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A group of high-profile actors have signed a public letter saying they would rather remain on strike than accept a bad deal.
Thousands of stars, including Sarah Paulson, Chelsea Handler, Christian Slater, Sandra Oh, Daveed Diggs, Pedro Pascal and Kal Penn, signed the letter addressed to the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee.
“Back in June, before we went on strike, a large group of members signed an open letter telling our leaders that we would rather strike than get a bad deal. Even now, more than 100 days after our strike began, this is still true. As hard as it is, we would rather stay on strike than get a bad deal,” the letter said.
“We didn’t come all this way to give in. We didn’t spend months without work, without pay, and on picket lines only to give up everything we fought for. We cannot and will not accept a treaty that ignores the vital and existential problems that we all need to solve,” they added.
Other signees include Carrie Anne Moss, Christine Baranski, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kristin Chenoweth, Leslie Odom, Jr., Lizzy Caplan, Richard Schiff, Simon Pegg, Timothy Olyphant, Zachary Quinto, Titus Welliver, Simon Helberg and Jon Hamm , Rosanna Arquette, Pamela Adlon, Noah Wyle, Maya Hawke, Margaret Cho, Lena Dunham, Kim Raver, Joshua Jackson, Helen Hunt, David Harewood and Carrie Coon.
The move comes after a separate group of actors including George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Kerry Washington, Tyler Perry, Bradley Cooper, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Aniston, Robert De Niro, Ben Affleck, Laura Dern, Emma Stone, Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Reynolds, and Ariana DeBose made their own offer to help end the strike.
Deadline announced today that SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP have agreed to meet again on Friday. Sources say there is “cautious optimism” about the talks.
Full letter (see signatories here):
To our SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee:
Back in June, before we went on strike, a large group of members signed an open letter telling our leaders that we would rather strike than get a bad deal.
Even now, more than 100 days after our strike began, this is still true. As difficult as it is, we would rather continue to strike than make a bad deal.
We didn’t come all this way to give in. We didn’t spend months without work, without pay, and on picket lines only to give up everything we fought for. We cannot and will not accept a treaty that ignores the vital and existential problems that we all need to solve.
In any union there will always be a minority unwilling to make temporary sacrifices for the greater good. But we, the majority who voted overwhelmingly to authorize this strike, still stand in solidarity and are willing to strike for as long as it takes and endure whatever we have to do to win a deal, who deserves our collective sacrifice. We know our union leaders are doing everything in their power to achieve this goal as they negotiate in good faith with companies to negotiate a new contract that protects us and our fellow artists now and for generations to come.
Everything we have as a union – every minimum payment, every health and pension benefit, every balance, every royalty and every job protection – everything was won with the power of our members; the power of our solidarity; the strength to stand together and demand what is right, what is fair and what we deserve. You now have our trust, our support and our strength behind you.
One day longer. One day stronger. As long as it takes.
Solidaric,