Actors may soon join writers strike after deadline for deal passes

Hollywood actors may soon join screenwriters in a strike on the picket lines. A deadline for the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) to reach a deal with studios and streaming services passed at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, July 12.

The SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee then voted unanimously to recommend a strike, which would halt Hollywood productions. An official decision by the guild will be considered by leadership at a meeting later Thursday.

Issues in the negotiations to avoid and actors strike include better residuals with streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon, as well as the use of artificial intelligence technology.

“The companies have refused to meaningfully engage on some topics and on others completely stonewalled us. Until they do negotiate in good faith, we cannot begin to reach a deal,” said Fran Drescher, star of “The Nanny” and SAG-AFTRA’s president and chief negotiator.

The group representing the studios, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, issued a statement on the deadline passing, saying they are “deeply disappointed that SAG-AFTRA has decided to walk away from negotiations. This is the Union’s choice, not ours.”

The looming strike cast a shadow over Wednesday’s Emmy nominations.

“There are certain streamers that have really kind of changed the way we work and the way we have work,” Oscar-winning actress Jessica Chastain, who was nominated for her first Emmy for playing Tammy Wynette in “George & Tammy,” told The Associated Press Wednesday. “And the contracts really haven’t caught up to the innovation that’s happened.”

The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since early May of 2023. If the actors go on strike, it would be the first time since 1960 that the two guilds would be on strike at the same time.

The major unions in Hollywood issued a joint statement extending their “unwavering support and solidarity” of SAG-AFTRA.

“Hollywood must be a place where every worker, on-screen and off, is treated according to the value their skills and talents command,” the statement from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Teamsters, Hollywood Basic Crafts, the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West said.

The unions’ statement continued, “While the studios have collective worth of trillions of dollars, billions of viewers globally, and sky-high profits, this fight is not about actors against the studios, but rather about workers across all crafts and departments in the industry standing together to prevent mega-corporations from eroding the conditions we fought decades to achieve.”