SAG-AFTRA Says Dual Strikes Against Video Games & Film/TV Industry “Makes Sense” As Key Issues Of Wages & AI “Mirror” Each Other

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.

SAG-AFTRA has cleared the air on Dancing With the Stars‘ return amid the Hollywood strikes.

after the shocking death of her husband, 65-year-old comedian Bob Saget.“After Bob passed away … I moved and rented a beautiful home in Hollywood for 18 months and then that lease was up so I bought my first home,” Rizzo, 44, told The Post. “I just wish I had paid more attention to when Bob would tell me all these things [about home ownership] like, ‘Hey, pay attention to this, here’s how the plumbing works.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah I’ll never need to know that.'”She added: “And I also wish I paid more attention to all the times Bob said that owning a home is a pain in the butt.”Rizzo, who also hosts “Eat Travel Rock” (nearing its 100th episode), said she thinks of Saget “all the time, every day” and that he “has such a huge presence” in her new home.“He’s everywhere,” she said.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, saying that “right now is the time to show our solidarity,” is urging her members to authorize a strike against the video game industry. The guild, which has been on strike against the film and TV industries since July 14, could go on strike against the gaming companies any time after September 25, when voting on the strike authorization ends. The guild’s first and only strike against the gaming companies lasted 183 days in 2016-17.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Media watchdog GLAAD released its Studio Responsibility Index on Thursday, using its annual ranking of queer representation in mainstream films to stand with striking unions SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America. Convening in-person at the Los Angeles LGBTQ Center’s Ed Gould Plaza in Hollywood, leadership from both show business unions, queer talent and GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis spoke of the dangers that work stoppages from the strokes pose to inclusive storytelling.

With the actors’ strike now in its 63rd day, SAG-AFTRA leaders are ramping up their rhetoric against the studio heads, accusing them in the latest issue of the SAG-AFTRA Magazine of “behaving like petty tyrants,” “would-be feudal lords” and “land barons in feudal times.”

As the SAG-AFTRA strike clocked its 62nd day, and the WGA’s 135th, the former held a massive solidarity march today from Netflix HQ on Van Ness Blvd to the Melrose gates of Paramount to juice guilds’ spirits with the entertainment industry work stoppage running past Labor Day.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA held a massive march and rally outside the Paramount studio on Wednesday, as the union marked 62 days on strike. Union leaders argued that the strike has resonated across industries, as workers stand up to “unchecked corporate greed.” “What’s at stake is bigger than just the entertainment industry,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s executive director. “It’s about the livelihoods of everyone who needs a job to earn a living.” He urged actors to use their voices and authenticity to speak for the broader labor movement.

EXCLUSIVE: Fran Drescher is less concerned with meeting of several showrunners with WGA leadership this week and more concerned with studios and streamers getting back to the bargaining table to make a fair deal.

The Herb Alpert Foundation has donated $250,000 to the Entertainment Community Fund to aid idled film and TV industry workers during the ongoing Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes. A matching donation by an anonymous donor brings the total gift to $500,000.

Paul Plunkett The entertainment industry can be brutal and punishing even during the best of times, let alone amid disruptive WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. But it’s even tougher for those with disabilities.While there have been highly publicized donations to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation from superstars such as Dwayne Johnson, Oprah Winfrey and other A-listers to help their fellow union members through this challenging time, philanthropic organizations such as the Inevitable Foundation, launched in 2021, have stepped up while keeping their focus on their mission, helping writers with disabilities. “The higher up you get up in the industry, the less representation there is offscreen,” says Richie Siegel, the organization’s co-founder and president, noting that America’s largest minority group, the disabled, is the least visible.

Michaela Zee Drew Barrymore is returning for the fourth season of her eponymous daytime talk show sooner than expected. Barrymore announced on social media that “The Drew Barrymore Show” will begin its fourth season soon, in accordance with the rules of the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes. The actor first referred to her decision to step down as host of the MTV Film and TV Awards in May, in a show of support and solidarity to the striking WGA members.

Michaela Zee Jessica Chastain is encouraging independent producers to sign interim agreements amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. “If a majority of independent producers, come forward and sign the Interim Agreement deal it will show the AMPTP how wrong they are when they say our contract terms are unrealistic or unreasonable,” Chastain wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday.

SAG-AFTRA’s presence at TIFF continued into Saturday with a special picket outside Amazon offices here in Toronto with Canada’s commercial actors union ACTRA, who’ve been in a 501 day contract lockout with the country’s advertising agency’s org.

Fran Drescher was re-electedSAG-AFTRA president for a two-year term on Sept. 8.The actress and comedian received 23,080 votes to beat out actress and writer Maya Gilbert-Dunbar’s 5,276 votes in the election, which took place amid the union’s strike against Hollywood studios.

Fran Drescher isn’t going anywhere as SAG-AFTRA President.

OK, so there was one good deal point –one– to come out of the AMPTP talks with the WGA, as SAG-AFTRA National Executive director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland admitted at TIFF today: It was the streamer’s transparency on viewership numbers.

He brought zing to a sleepy Comic-Con, and he’s raising the humidity levels here at TIFF. SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland took the stage at the festival to give a post-Labor Day update on talks; and still it’s the same old story: The actors haven’t heard zip from the studios about moving forward.

SAG-AFTRA’s National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator in a pitstop at TIFF revealed that the Taylor Swift: Eras Tour concert film, which is poised to open to $70M-$100M has a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement.

EXCLUSIVE: A collection of industry professionals are set to gather at the Skybar in LA’s Mondrian Hotel for what has been described as a fundraising “night of solidarity” organized by InfoList founder Jeff Gund in support of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.