SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher Says AI Is A “Deadly Cocktail” That Threatens To “Poison” Hollywood

SAG-AFTRA has given an interim agreement to another upcoming fall festival pic with theChristy Hall drama Daddio, starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn. The agreement will allow talent to promote the movie at the upcoming festivals including Toronto, where it has been confirmed as a Special Presentation pic.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Movie distributors headed to this year’s fall film festivals hoping to buy select star-studded indie films must be prepared to agree to new contract terms from SAG-AFTRA, the union’s chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said Tuesday. During a broad press conference on the topic of SAG-AFTRA’s interim agreements program — under which some movies and TV projects can shoot or engage in publicity during the ongoing strike — Crabtree-Ireland confirmed what many in the indie film world have been sweating over for weeks.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, confirmed Tuesday that fall festival buyers will need to agree to the terms proposed for the guild’s new contract before acquiring projects being promoted under an interim agreement.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter SAG-AFTRA national president Fran Drescher stopped off at multiple picket lines in New York on Thursday to rally the members of the guild as their strike continues. “I just want to say I am so grateful for your enthusiasm and your commitment to this strike,” Drescher told the pickets outside HBO’s New York offices. “It means everything.

News broadcasters aren’t on strike, but their SAG-AFTRA steering committee is standing behind the actors and performers who are. “The world is watching,” the committee said in a statement Wednesday, and urged a “quick and productive resolution to the strike.”

Luc Besson’s DogMan has become one of the first films to receive a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement that will allow talent to do press during the upcoming festival season. Actors will be allowed to promote the pic at its upcoming premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

In the wake of yesterday’s upbeat news that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the WGA are heading back for talks this Friday, SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland says that as far as actors go, it’s still crickets from the producers.

EXCLUSIVE: With such big 2023 movies such as Kraven the Hunter, the next Ghostbusters, the Zendaya romance Challengers and more moving into 2024 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, exhibition is facing another possible recession should stars remain unable to promote.

Stephen Amell‘s strong feelings about the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike aren’t sitting well with fellow members of the Arrowverse.

SAG-AFTRA tonight responded to criticism of its interim agreements, saying that they are a “vital part of our strategic approach to these negotiations and to the strike.” The interim agreements allow truly independent projects to film during the strike as long as they agree to be bound by the terms of whatever deal the guild eventually reaches with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Sarah Silverman isn’t so pissed off any more about the interim agreements that SAG-AFTRA has been handing out, but the comedian is still pretty “cynical” about the whole thing.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Two unions are on strike and there are no plans to restart negotiations with either of them, leaving Hollywood in limbo for the foreseeable future. The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA have both said they are open to talking, but that the studios refuse to engage on their core issues. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, meanwhile, has said that the unions have been unwilling to drop items that are non-starters, like a demand for a share of streaming revenue and a minimum staffing level for TV writers.

joined the WGA in taking strike action on July 13, after negotiations broke down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), who represent major studios like Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Warner Bros. and others.Both unions are seeking better pay, streaming residuals and safeguards against the use of AI technology amid the rise of streaming services.The strikes look set to have a major impact on the release calendar of upcoming TV shows and films, with many shutting down production in solidarity.Screen Actors Guild national executive director, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, recently said the strike could last until the early months of 2024.“I wouldn’t rule out January or February,” Crabtree-Ireland told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Prince Royal, an actor in Los Angeles, was working as an extra on “The Flash” when he was directed to a tractor trailer to “take pictures.” Inside were hundreds of cameras. He stood with his arms up as the operators took a 3-D scan, which he was told would be used for continuity and special effects. “We were told if we didn’t do it, we’d be sent home without pay,” he said.

Angelique Jackson On July 13, as SAG-AFTRA leadership declared the union was going on strike, SAG-AFTRA Foundation president Courtney B. Vance and executive director Cyd Wilson drafted a letter to 2,700 of the union’s highest-earning actors outlining the financial need that many would face in the work stoppage. “Having been through this during COVID and having such a great response from our own membership to take care of their own, when the strike was decided, Courtney and I sat down with our team and said, ‘Here we go again,'” Wilson tells Variety. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation (a non-profit organization associated with the union, but not part of it) worked to provide financial relief to many of the union’s 160,000 members via the foundation’s Emergency Financial Assistance Program, which will again be used to help actors during the strike.

SAG-AFTRA has granted more waivers in recent days that give permission to indie projects to shoot during the current strike, including the independent film The Summer Book starring Glenn Close. Other recent projects that will be allowed to shoot include the TV series Underdeveloped and Sight Unseen.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer The perils of artificial intelligence to the entertainment industry came to San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, with SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland joining a panel of voice actors organized by NAVA, the National Association of Voice Actors, to discuss the specific hazards AI is already posing to the profession. “We’ve got to reject the idea that this is just something that’s going to happen to us and we can’t say anything about it,” Crabtree-Ireland said at the outset of the panel, about whether AI could devastate the entertainment industry. “I think it definitely could, the question is whether we’re going to let that happen.”

EXCLUSIVE: For those awards strategists wondering whether stars from indie U.S. films can promote at the fall film festival troika, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland says “We’re looking at that issue.”

Hollywood is mourning the loss of Tony Bennett. The singer who successfully led a decades-long career and captivated audiences with "I Left My Heart In San Francisco," died Friday.The star was 96, just two weeks short of his birthday. Publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed Bennett’s death to The Associated Press, saying he passed away in his hometown of New York.

Disney CEO Bob Iger already made his perspective clear about the ongoing guild strikes last week before the SAG-AFTRA one commenced. Now it’s Netflix CEO’s Ted Sarandos‘ turn.