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Top Hollywood players are working on a plan to bring in federal agents to stave off a SAG-AFTRA strike with just a day to go before the contract deadline.
A group of CEOs and senior executives, including Disney CEO Bob Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, met in a conference call Monday night to discuss the urgent situation, with SAG-AFTRA standing by to to go on strike as early as Thursday. In addition to executives discussing efforts to bring in a federal liaison, talent agency chiefs including WME’s Ari Emanuel, CAA’s Bryan Lourd and UTA’s Jeremy Zimmer have reached out to SAG-AFTRA executives for help in recent days offer that could prevent a second Hollywood work stoppage this summer.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the major studios, has asked the Federal Mediation and Arbitration Service for support. It is not yet clear whether SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 members, will agree to this idea, as it would require a second extension of negotiations.
The SAG-AFTRA contract currently expires at midnight PT Wednesday, and the two sides remain at odds on a number of issues, including streaming residuals, floor rate increases and artificial intelligence. There has been relatively little progress in recent days and the likelihood of a strike is increasing.
The contract was originally scheduled to expire on June 30, but both sides agreed to a 12-day extension.
A SAG-AFTRA strike would immediately halt all film and television production not already halted by the Writers Guild of America strike, which has been going on for more than two months. The impact would be particularly great overseas, where AMPTP companies could continue to film some shows without the involvement of WGA writers and producers.
On Monday, SAG-AFTRA leaders briefed entertainment publicists on strike rules in preparation for a work stoppage. The tone of the call led many participants to conclude that it would take a miracle to prevent a strike.
SAG-AFTRA has called on volunteers to act as strike leaders, and members went to WGA pickets Tuesday to receive training from WGA captains at several Hollywood studios.
The Biden administration recently sent Julie Su, the acting Secretary of Labor, to help negotiate an agreement that prevents the West Coast ports from being closed.
Management’s hope is that a state mediator will be perceived as a neutral third party to persuade the sides to reach a compromise that would be more acceptable to the union’s grassroots members if it came about through a mediator.
Sources close to the negotiations say AMPTP officials and member company leaders are frustrated by SAG-AFTRA’s intransigence. There is a strong sense that a militant minority within the union has an outsized influence on bargaining strategy, regardless of the heavy toll a strike can take on actors, other unions and countless companies that rely on production-related labor would demand.
“We’re negotiating with ourselves and getting stuck,” the source said. “How can a mediator harm?”
(Pictured: Mark Ruffalo)