It’s been two weeks since the Writers Guild of America reached an agreement to get back to work, but things aren’t looking good for its counterpart, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). Talks collapsed on Wednesday night with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) due to “bullying tactics” and the chief executives reportedly walked out without any proposed counteroffer. The SAG-AFTRA bargaining committee said in a statement.. CEOs such as Disney’s Bob Iger and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos began meeting in person with SAG-AFTRA negotiators in early October.
The committee is working to reach an agreement for the actors, on strike since mid-July. “We have negotiated with them in good faith, even though they submitted an offer last week that was surprisingly worth less than what they proposed before the strike began,” SAG-AFTRA added. “These companies refuse to protect artists from being replaced by ai, they refuse to increase their salaries to keep up with inflation, and they refuse to share a small portion of the immense income their work generates for them.” .
AMPTP claims a requested cut in streaming revenue would cost $800 million a year, a figure SAG-AFTRA says is inflated by 60 percent after “large and significant counterattacks” from the union. According to SAG-AFTRA, this tactic is an attempt to mislead members and break support. The union also claims that AMPTP requires ai consent from day one for actors to use their likeness throughout the franchise. For now, SAG-AFTRA encourages its members to continue showing up at pickets and solidarity events.
