SAG-AFTRA
As the industry remains anxious to see how SAG-AFTRA will respond to the studios’ latest proposal, the artists’ union said it would further consider the offer on Monday.
“The Television and Theater Negotiating Committee analyzed and thoroughly discussed the AMPTP counter-proposal throughout the day and into the night and will continue our deliberations on Monday. We will keep you updated,” the union’s negotiating committee wrote to members Sunday evening.
The statement comes after SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee met earlier in the day to consider what it called the studios’ “last, best and final offer,” which was presented to a handful of SAG-AFTRA negotiators on Friday and the negotiations was officially presented to the committee on Saturday. (This wording is, of course, tricky in labor negotiations, as parties sometimes exchange proposals and make adjustments even after one side has announced that it has made its final offer.)
The latest studio offer is said to include AI offers, wage increases and a performance-based streaming bonus, rather than the revenue share originally sought by the union. A studio source called the proposal “worth more than three of the last deals combined.” The source added that if an agreement isn’t reached by this weekend or early next week, “that means we’re finished.”
An expanded group of studio executives met with SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee Saturday to unveil their latest package. In a sign that there was a lot at stake for everyone involved, the group included, in addition to the four participants, executives from all major studios and streamers – Ted Sarandos of Netflix, Bob Iger of Disney, Donna Langley of NBCUniversal and David Zaslav of Warner Bros. Discovery some SAG-AFTRA negotiating sessions in the last two weeks.
Monday marks the 116th day of the actors’ strike – a work stoppage that, along with the 148-day writers’ strike that ended in September, cost the California economy about $6 billion, according to an estimate by the Milken Institute’s chief strategist Kevin Klowden.