Dispatches From The Picket Lines: Scribes Celebrate New Deal While Showing Solidarity With SAG-AFTRA

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Talks broke down last week between the major studios and SAG-AFTRA, with the studios saying that the gap between the two sides is “too great” to continue productive negotiations. Until they can bridge the gap, SAG-AFTRA will remain on strike and the entertainment industry will remain shut down. So how big is that gap? About $480 million a year.

It’s been nearly three weeks since SAG-AFTRA‘s talks with the video game industry broke off, but a power-up is on the horizon. The union said today that negotiations for a new Interactive Media Agreement will continue. But as for when — stay tuned.

SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is very happy with Taylor Swift and not so happy with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos.

This is Day 92 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

This is Day 86 of the SAG-AFTRA strike. 

EXCLUSIVE: Saturday Night Live will return with a lot of recognizable faces plus one new one.

SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, is attending New York Comic Con on Oct. 14 for the panel “AI in Entertainment: The Performer’s Perspective”.

This is Day 83 of the SAG-AFTRA strike. 

Jimmy Kimmel returned to the air for a new episode of his late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday (October 2) after a months-long break due to the writers strike.

Jimmy Kimmel is back with a little help from Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This is Day 82 of the SAG-AFTRA strike. 

It was everything everywhere all at once Thursday in New York City: Striking actors getting ready for contract talks were joined by writers who have just wrapped up theirs at a rally in Manhattan that also highlighted Asian American Pacific Islander culture in film and television. 

EXCLUSIVE: “This strike was way too long, because the companies took so long to get serious,” WGA West President Meredith Stiehm declared tonight of the nearly 150 days the Writers Guild was out on the picket lines before a tentative agreement was reached on September 24.

This is Day 76 of the SAG-AFTRA strike. 

SAG-AFTRA members have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against 10 of the major video game companies. The vote was 98.32% in favor.  A total of 34,687 members cast ballots, representing a voting 27.47% of eligible voters. The guild’s last strike against the gaming companies, in 2016-17, lasted 183 days. The guild, meanwhile, has been on strike against the film and TV industry since July 14.

UK industry bodies Bectu and the Writers Guild of Great Britain are saluting the tentative agreement reached on Sunday by the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to end the writers strike after nearly five months. They also called for a speedy resolution to the SAG-AFTRA strike. The UK industry has been hard hit by the labor unrest on the other side of the Atlantic.

The Directors Guild, which closed what it described as a “historic” deal with the AMPTP in June, responded Sunday to the WGA’s deal with the AMPTP.

This is Day 144 of the WGA strike and Day 71 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

As Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher reverse their decisions to return to their talk shows, Sherri Shepherd is gearing up for her return.

As word spread of contract talks resuming between the striking Writers Guild and the AMPTP, striking SAG-AFTRA members continued with their pickets on Friday morning outside film and television studio addresses in New York City.