Hollywood stars and screenwriters have not gone on strike together since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was President of the Screen Actors Guild. SAG-AFTRA – affiliation of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists – announced the strike at midnight yesterday: the union, representing 160,000 film and television actors, has joined the protest by screenwriters and writers that has been ongoing since March 2 .May. Despite the intervention of a federal mediator, no agreement on salary increases, the recalculation of image rights and protective provisions for the use of artificial intelligence in the contract extension between the actors and the studios could be reached by the deadline on Wednesday evening.
63 years ago, the strike over the proceeds that screenwriters and actors received from the transition from cinema to television: films starring Elizabeth Taylor and Marylin Monroe were suspended. Today, Hollywood is once again paralyzed by a historic struggle over new technologies. Like the writers, the actors are calling on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major production and streaming studios (including Amazon, Disney, Apple, NbcUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros.), to pay the royalties increase they get when shows are released on Netflix and other platforms. Disney boss Bob Iger described the demands as “unrealistic”. Studios, arguing that many platforms aren’t making huge profits, have resisted the idea of pegging fees to the success of streaming programs and having views appraised by an impartial company.
The cause of the protest also lies in greater unity among Hollywood unions and the increase in union activism in post-Covid America. 98% of union members had authorized the union leaders to call the strike. Hundreds of actors, including Jane Fonda, Maryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Ben Stiller, have signed a clear letter: “This is not the time for compromise.” It’s no exaggeration to say that history’s eyes are on us are directed. We ask that you stand up for the change and protection that is needed to make history.” Actors do not participate in productions or promotional events. Matt Damon, who left the London premiere with the cast of Christopher Nolan’s film “Oppenheimer” in solidarity with the protest, emphasized: “To get health care you have to make $26,000 a year: many can only do that with copyright.” Without them lose the insurance. It’s unacceptable.” Fonda, who had already expressed solidarity with the screenwriters, explains: “My case is different from that of the average actor, but we have to stay united.” We hear scary things about artificial intelligence (AI), we have to make sure that we will not be replaced.” The union states that they do not want to ban AI, but that “the acquisition of the rights to develop a system with the voice and image of an actor must be negotiated”. “We are the victims,” said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher from Los Angeles. In the final stages of the negotiation, she was in Puglia at the Dolce and Gabbana fashion shows, but the union defended her: “She was known to attend via Zoom every day.”