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UPDATE, 9:13 p.m.: SAG-AFTRA and the studios plan further discussions, but there will be no deal tonight.
After a long day of negotiations, the two sides are still wrestling with several stubborn issues, including, we hear, AI protection. After discussing the issue repeatedly throughout the evening and consulting with lawyers and others, the guild negotiating committee and the AMPTP have now scheduled another meeting for Wednesday, they say.
Led by SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and AMPTP President Carol Lombardini, the parties spent about seven hours Tuesday discussing the basics of an agreement and the process to put the basics of a tentative agreement on paper . Studio CEOs haven’t zoomed in like they have on previous occasions.
The lack of a tentative agreement tonight means the soon-to-be 118-day strike will not end before Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney report their fourth-quarter results tomorrow – an event horizon that many have mistakenly assumed would be the industrial action would not exceed it.
This is what we hear from sources on both sides of the negotiating table: AI is to blame
With technology clearly evolving in leaps and bounds, the guild wants to see what a SAG-AFTRA source called “stable guardrails” that protect its 160,000 members in terms of both compensation and likeness rights. While the gap between what the AMPTP is offering now and what the guild is looking for has narrowed significantly in the last 36 hours, according to the SAG-AFTRA source, they are “close, but not there yet.”
Deadline has learned from multiple sources that Guild President Fran Drescher has been pinged by A-list stars about whether a deal is imminent. We’re told that guild leaders were also hoping that Tuesday was just a matter of Lombardini and Crabtree-Ireland working out the details and fine print.
“A lot of bureaucracy,” is how one studio insider summed up the deal, which went through the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee and the guild and studio’s lawyers. Another creative close to the talks sums it up: “There are a lot of back channels these days.” Studio sources praise the “extremely historic” deal in place for the actors, while claiming that many actors in the ranks are over angered by the ongoing strike, in addition to many underdeveloped communities. On the other hand, well-attended pickets on both coasts continue to show that the unity of the guilds remains strong.
For some, sources say tonight, this could be a question of the right personalities.
Given Lombardini’s tough demeanor in the talks, some wondered whether she would be the person to close the deal with former Crabtree-Ireland prosecutor. On Tuesday, there was an argument in some studio and guild circles that smooth operator Bob Iger should be brought in to close the deal. However, another insider assured: “No, she’s the one.”
While the city waits for Lombardini and Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA has planned pickets in LA and NYC. “The City of Angels” hosts a self-described post-apocalyptic theme gathering in front of Netflix and a Fightin Irish picket in front of Warner Bros.
BEFORE, 1:17 p.m.: Negotiators from SAG-AFTRA and the studios will meet later today. This could be the final phase to sign a new contract and end the Actors Guild’s 117-day strike.
After AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA made a breakthrough on the controversial topic of AI last night, a conversation between Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and AMPTP President Carol Lombardini is scheduled for this afternoon. “We are very close,” a guild source told Deadline. “Not finished yet, but very close, with strong protection language,” the source added of AI guardrails the guild had long sought, even before it went on strike in mid-July.
A studio source called today’s deal “hopeful,” while another excited insider beamed, “It’s going to happen.”
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, Fran Drescher, Ted Sarandos, Bob Iger, David Zaslav and Donna Langley
After SAG-AFTRA issued its Nov. 6 response to the AMPTP’s so-called “last, best and final offer” late last week, the parties met in a Zoom meeting yesterday. Late into the night, the CEO Gang of Four of Disney’s Bob Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley once again attended the meeting. We hear that, unlike previous meetings of this kind, studio bosses were finally willing to amend their latest AI proposal to provide artists with more project-specific protections and compensation.
Whether this postponement will be enough to end the bitter and costly six-month strike that has crippled Hollywood, cost the California economy $67.5 billion and led to the loss of 45,000 entertainment jobs will likely be determined today at the meeting between Crabtree- Ireland and Lombardini decided.
“It’s all down to Duncan and Carol and improving the AI language,” an insider explained. An agreement on minimum rates is also on the table. SAG-AFTRA had wanted an 11% raise, but the studios ended up offering 7% – which is better than what the WGA received in its contract to end the strike in September. Since then, the guild has increased its demand to around 9% and the two sides are said to be settling at around 8%, we hear.
The Nov. 3 offer from the AMPTP, described by studio sources as “historic,” includes, in addition to, but not limited to, a decade-long wage increase and a 100 percent increase in performance compensation bonuses for big-budget streaming series and films that meet certain thresholds. The guild is said to have “issues” with these benchmarks and considers them too high to be meaningful to many of its members.
Neither the AMPTP nor SAG-AFTRA responded to Deadline’s request for comment today. If so, we will update it. It’s worth noting that both WBD and Disney are releasing their fourth quarter results later this week and an end to the Wall Street strike wouldn’t be unwelcome, you know what we mean?
While the industry waits with bated breath, Hollywood is ready to resume production of films and television series around the globe to get its 2024 schedule and television schedule back on track.
Although there was criticism from studio management last night following the guild’s reaction to the studio’s “last, best and final offer,” it turned out that both sides were closer than expected as they discussed the terms of the deal late into the night . One executive was outraged by the guild’s requirement to get actors’ consent to their digital selves and by the union’s approval of any use of AI in addition to a digital performer. “Not how movies are made!” However, we’ll see how both sides come to an agreement when the dust finally settles over AI rights and remaining streaming revenue.
Nevertheless, pickets were set up and SAG-AFTRA members and their allies were on the streets of NYC and LA today.