Jul 13, 2023 at 8:17pm BST
Updated 12 minutes ago
The Los Angeles-based Screen Actors Guild has officially gone on strike, marking the beginning of the biggest shutdown Hollywood has seen in 40 years.
The union hopes to force streaming giants to agree to demands on issues such as fairer profit sharing and better working conditions.
The strike means 160,000 artists will join the strike line, joining a separate writers’ strike.
The announcement comes a day after the last-minute talks collapsed.
The actors are demanding better pay and working conditions from streaming services and a commitment that artificial intelligence and computer-generated faces and voices will not be used as substitutes for actors.
Stars Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt walked out of the Oppenheimer premiere when the strike began, according to director Christopher Nolan.
At a news conference in California on Thursday, the union’s executive director and chief negotiator said the strike was “an instrument of last resort.”
video caption,
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“They left us no alternative,” he added.
On Wednesday, the union — officially known as the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) — failed to reach an agreement with major studios.
The breakdown in talks prompted the union’s bargaining committee to unanimously recommend the start of a strike.
The group representing the studios, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), said that “a strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for, given that studios are without the artists who produce our television shows and films.” Bring life, not be able to function”.
“Unfortunately, the Union has chosen a path that will result in financial hardship for untold thousands of people who depend on the industry,” the statement continued.
A separate strike by the Writers Guild of America has been going on since May 2nd, demanding better wages and working conditions. Some authors have turned to writing gig economy projects not covered by the contract between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The “double strike” by both unions is the first since 1960, when the SAG was led by actor and former US President Ronald Reagan. The last strike of the actors took place in 1980.
A third union, the Directors Guild of America, successfully negotiated a deal in June and will not participate.
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