As Negotiations Between Actors And Studios Continue, Celebrities State That They "Would Rather Stay On Strike Than Take A Bad Deal"

Thousands of performers said in an open letter to the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee that they would not end the strike until a mutually agreeable agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers or AMPTP, was reached.

Signatories to the letter include Kerry Washington, Christian Slater, Pedro Pascal, and Sarah Paulson.

The letter states, “We have not come all this way to cave now.” “We cannot and will not consent to a contract that ignores the fundamental and existential issues that each and every one of us needs resolved.”

After multiple sessions this week, actors and representatives from Hollywood studios went back to the negotiating table today. Deadline reports that the meeting on Thursday lasted five hours, but the actors guild is “cautiously optimistic” despite having been on the picket line for more than a century.

The SAG-AFTRA bargaining committee provided an update on Thursday, saying, “[W]e passed a comprehensive counter across the table to the CEOs and while talks for the day have ended, our committee just completed working internally tonight.”

Furthermore, The Hollywood Reporter claims that on Thursday, representatives of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees gathered with other Hollywood personnel in front of City Hall in Los Angeles. The ensemble echoed the call from authors, directors, and actors for Gov. Gavin Newsome to step in during negotiations and force the AMPTP to reach an agreement with the performers.

The AMPTP said that the “gap” between the two parties was “too great,” which led to the breakdown of talks between the parties earlier this month. The AMPTP is only prepared to pay $20 million of the $500 million that actors are requesting as part of a new streaming residual system, leaving a $480 million “gap.”

Shortly thereafter, prominent figures in Hollywood suggested that the guild lift the cap on high-earning members’ dues in order to contribute more money to the union’s budget over the following three years. The A-listers declared that in order to close the gap between the two parties, they would be prepared to pay more than their portion of union dues, which are now capped at $1 million in earnings.

When SAG-AFTRA’s contract expired in July, they joined the Hollywood writers on strike. Since then, the authors have reached an agreement with the studios and have resumed work, but emotions are running high as the actors guild has found it more difficult to work with executives. Although writers have resumed their work, numerous shows and movies are still experiencing production halts or delays due to the ongoing actors’ strike. Variety lists Mission Impossible 8, A Quiet Place: Day One, and Kraven as among of the projects that are blocked. Furthermore, the original 2024 release dates for Pixar’s Elio and Disney’s live-action Snow White remake have been pushed back to 2025.

It’s unclear how much, if any, work the performers and studio officials will do before the weekend.

As Negotiations Between Actors And Studios Continue, Celebrities State That They “Would Rather Stay On Strike Than Take A Bad Deal”

Thousands of performers said in an open letter to the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee that they would not end the strike until a mutually agreeable agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers or AMPTP, was reached.

The SAG-AFTRA bargaining committee provided an update on Thursday, saying, “[W]e passed a comprehensive counter across the table to the CEOs and while talks for the day have ended, our committee just completed working internally tonight.”

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