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A call from Disney CEO Bob Iger on Saturday, Oct. 21, to SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland initiated the long-awaited return to negotiations between the union and Hollywood studios later this year week one.
During that conversation, Iger expressed the Alliance of Film and Television Producers’ desire to renegotiate and finally negotiate a new three-year contract amid a SAG-AFTRA strike that has now stretched over 100 days. AMPTP President Carol Lombardini soon followed with a call of her own to Crabtree-Ireland. Under pressure from members at the bottom and top of the call list, the artists’ union responded quickly, issuing a joint press release with the AMPTP the same day announcing a return to negotiations and adjourning its biennial national congress two days early , so that the union’s employees and bargaining team could get to work.
The AMPTP, which ended negotiations on October 11 due to what it said was a massive “rift” between the two sides, is expected to put forward a new package of proposals when the two parties face off again on Tuesday. The same four Hollywood executives who participated in the negotiations before they collapsed earlier this month – Iger, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and NBCUniversal Studio Group chairman and chief content officer Donna Langley — are expected to return for continued talks, which will take place at the union’s state headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard.
These developments are the result of meetings between high-profile actors, both with their own union and with Hollywood studios.
Last week, a group that included Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, George Clooney, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Laura Dern, Scarlett Johansson, Tyler Perry, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Meryl Streep, Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon grew in number Alarmed and frustrated by whether union negotiations were doing everything in their power to reach an agreement, they decided to present a united front. These major union members held multiple Zoom meetings with SAG-AFTRA leader Crabtree-Ireland and Chairwoman Fran Drescher to discuss a return to the bargaining table. Some had already had one-on-one discussions with union leaders, but decided to go one step further and Work together to try to break the stalemate.
According to sources, before the talks broke down, the four CEOs who were part of the SAG-AFTRA negotiations were taken aback by Drescher’s negotiating style, which involved getting a doll (a heart-shaped plush toy with a smiley face that Drescher wore from an 11- gifted to a year old). year-old fan) and buddhist inspirational quotes say. She also alarmed CEOs when she announced, “I don’t care if we stay here for a year” to achieve the union’s goals, sources claim, something a union source disputes. A source close to the union explains that Drescher uses a “less adversarial” negotiating process and occasionally tries to tone down the tone in the room.
Drescher said in a statement: “I don’t have to emulate male energy to be an effective leader.”
Crabtree-Ireland added: “Using sexist tropes to denigrate female executives in Hollywood is nothing new, and this is another egregious example. “Fran brings balance and consensus to a potentially adversarial process.”
According to two sources familiar with the meeting, Drescher opened the first Zoom meeting with the top celebrities by asking them to take a screenshot. The source close to the union claims that Drescher wanted to take a screenshot to capture the historic moment in the life of the union; SAG-AFTRA collects its union’s history as part of its general activities. Perry politely declined, expressing that he would rather get to the point.
In the conversations before the Zooms, some senior figures had floated ideas such as eliminating the $1 million contribution cap for high-income members. In the Zoom meetings, the group proposed a new streaming residuals model written by Affleck that would benefit lower-paid actors, according to a source with knowledge of the calls. During those conversations, Affleck, Clooney and others suggested that eliminating the fee cap for the highest-paid actors could improve that model. The discussion surfaced in press reports, prompting Drescher to post an Instagram story on Oct. 19 that said: “We are a state-regulated union and the only contributions that can go into our pension and health funds must come from the state “Employers are coming.” That’s why what we are fighting for in terms of benefits must remain in this contract.” She added, “[It’s] Kind of apples and oranges, just so everyone understands.”
“None of the actors [on the call] I suspected this was a miracle cure or anything even resembling a solution,” says one person who participated. The source added: “It was suggested as an outside-the-box conversation starter, as ‘outside the box’ doesn’t currently work for either side of the negotiations.”
The meetings with SAG-AFTRA executives left this person feeling “deeply frustrated,” and several of the high-profile actors said they walked away from those conversations.
The actors also began working their studio contacts to convince them to negotiate again, asking how they could help bring both parties back to the table. Some of these high-profile artists are also major producers.
As the actors maintained their studio relationships, some began channeling their frustration into a draft letter expressing concern about SAG’s leadership. When news broke over the weekend that SAG and AMPTP were returning to the negotiating table, guild members decided not to release the document, fearing its contents would harm negotiations.
But ultimately, according to a source close to the studios, the impetus for major companies to make the move to SAG-AFTRA on Saturday was to save the 2024 film and broadcast season and, moreover, to restore jobs in the industry that had been lost for months were put on hold amid several entertainment strikes. SAG-AFTRA, meanwhile, expected a counterproposal after the union made a significant change to its revenue-sharing proposal on Oct. 11, turning it into a fee for subscribers. Crabtree-Ireland has portrayed this revised proposal as a “huge, huge concession”.
Meanwhile, in a message to members on October 21, the day the renewed negotiations were announced, the union told members that their unity had made it possible: “It is clear that the strength and solidarity shown by our members sent an unmistakable message to the CEOs,” said the union’s negotiating committee. “As we have said many times, we are always ready, willing and able to communicate and work together at the table to reach a deal that is worth your sacrifice.”
Now a new deal will apparently be on the table on Tuesday – and the question remains what that contract language will look like and how SAG-AFTRA negotiators will respond to it. When it comes to the latest sticking point – the union’s proposal to charge streaming platforms a fee from each global subscriber – the union apparently isn’t backing down. “It’s true that the CEOs don’t really want to address this, but sometimes in life when you introduce an unprecedented business model, as they have done with all my members with streaming, an unprecedented compensation structure has to come with it,” Drescher said on her Instagram Story on October 19: “It may not be easy, it may not be what they want, but it is an elegant way to solve the problem so we can all get back to work as it would be . “new normal.”
The guild members, like the rest of Hollywood, are eagerly awaiting it.
“I’m watching very closely how the negotiations are progressing,” says former SAG President Melissa Gilbert. “I have great hope that our union will reach an agreement that benefits our members and that everyone in our industry who is suffering greatly can get back to work.”
Kim Masters contributed to this report.