SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee Addresses Top Actors’ Proposal, Urges AMPTP “To Negotiate Genuinely”

Tyler Perry is speaking out on the SAG-AFTRA strike, now in its 117th day, as it appears a possible deal is getting much closer.

EXCLUSIVE: Today’s meeting between SAG-AFTRA and an expanded group of studio CEOs has just ended as the guild scrutinizes the AMPTP‘s long awaited response to their last comprehensive counter.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Hollywood’s major studios are preparing to make an offer to SAG-AFTRA on Friday that they hope will end the 113-day actors strike. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers had previously warned the actors union that if a deal could not be reached by the end of this week, the networks would have to cancel certain TV shows and there would be further delays in 2024 summer theatrical releases. The talks could well go into the weekend, especially if the two sides see that a tentative agreement is within reach.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher took to Instagram to express her condolences over the passing of Friends star Matthew Perry.

Already widely mocked on social media, SAG-AFTRA‘s infamous Halloween costume guidance received more drubbing on Saturday Night Live.

EXCLUSIVE: Sunday will not be a day of rest for SAG-AFTRA leadership and the studios this weekend.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer When it comes to life’s most difficult negotiations, sometimes you need a squishy friend by your side. That’s SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher’s policy for the contentious ongoing contract talks her union is embroiled in with Hollywood’s major film and TV studios.

Negotiations scheduled Wednesday between SAG-AFTRA and the studios didn’t happen after all — and everyone’s good with that.

SAG-AFTRA kicked off its National Convention 2023 under the banner “Future Forward Union Power.”

SAG-AFTRA’s first industry-wide strike in more than 40 years hit the 100-day mark. “SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP will meet for bargaining on Tuesday, Oct. 24 at SAG-AFTRA Plaza.

Editor’s note: On the 100th day of SAG-AFTRA’s strike, the 160,000-strong guild and the studios are once again not talking, and no new negotiations are planned. Writers are back at work, but with no actors deal, Hollywood production remains shut down. SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher asserts that it doesn’t have to be like this, that the economic suffering has to be solved. But first, she writes, the studios have to return to the bargaining table and stop playing games with the industry and people’s livelihoods.

Concerned that a prolonged actors strike would bring long-term, irreparable harm to the industry, Hollywood’s biggest stars on a Zoom call this week with SAG-AFTRA leaders pledged to commit $150 million over three years to remove a cap on union dues to bring more coin to guild coffers, and they suggested a streamer residual structure that would put actors on the bottom of the call sheet before them, in hopes that getting money faster would help more struggling actors qualify for benefits.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer On the first day of the SAG-AFTRA strike in July, union president Fran Drescher was asked how long she expected it to last. “We’re set up to go six months if we have to,” Drescher said. It hasn’t been that long yet.

Former SAG-AFTRA president Melissa Gilbert has blasted a SAG-AFTRA message that urged its members not to dress up as characters from struck companies this Halloween.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer In her two years as SAG-AFTRA president, Fran Drescher has worked assiduously to bridge the factional divides that have long beset the union. “Member unity will be my greatest legacy,” she promised in her campaign statement this summer, and she sought reelection.

Week 25 of Deadline’s Strike Talk podcast comes amid a tough time on the negotiations front between SAG-AFTRA and the studios. No formal talks have taken place or have even been scheduled since October 11, when bargaining was suspended amid the latest impasse.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Scarlett Johansson and a group of other A-listers gave a proposal to SAG-AFTRA leadership on Tuesday, which they hoped would help end the 98-day actors strike. But the proposal was rejected on Wednesday by the union’s negotiating committee, which is sticking to the demands it has spelled out over many weeks of negotiations. To understand why, it might help to delve more deeply into the proposal.

Thanks, George. But your proposal to take the cap off union dues in order to end SAG-AFTRA‘s strike isn’t legally compatible with the union’s contract.

A plan put forth this week to SAG-AFTRA by George Clooney and other big stars to potentially kick start stalled negotiations with the studios is “worthy of review and consideration,” says the union’s chief negotiator.

George Clooney presented a proposal to SAG-AFTRA leadership during a Tuesday afternoon Zoom call in an effort to find a way to resolve the three-month-long actors strike with the studios. But the proposal is likely dead on arrival. Sources with knowledge of the situation say the group of some 15 stars, which includes Tyler Perry and Scarlett Johansson, held a follow-up call last night with SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee.