SAG-AFTRA & Studios Set More Contract Talks For Friday; “Cautious Optimism” Motto Of The Day

In this week’s episode of The Discourse, your host Mike DeAngelo and Playlist Editor-in-Chief Rodrigo Perez, jump on the mic to talk with Joanna Robinson, one of the writers on the new book “MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios” co-written by Dave Gonzales and, Gavin Edwards. READ MORE: ‘The Marvels’ Box Office Flops At $47 Million, Marvel’s Lowest Grossing Opening Film Ever Given everything that’s happened/happening to Marvel this year, this fall and this weekend—the flop of “The Marvels,” the studio’s lowest-grossing opening ever and their first major failure in, well, forever—the book and the conversation, is timely.

Producers must give actors at least 48 hours to prepare a self-tape — longer if it’s before a weekend – and not assign more than eight pages to read for the first audition, according to a summary of SAG-AFTRA’s potential three-year contract.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher and National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland on Friday laid out how the actors’ 118-day strike was ended and their thoughts on the deal with the AMPTP.

The actors are set to vote on the tentative agreement with the studios after the SAG-AFTRA national board approved the deal.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA had settled dozens of issues, ranging from pension and health contributions, to page limits for self-taped auditions, to pay for background actors. But there was still the small matter of zombies. The union was worried that studios could use artificial intelligence to reanimate dead actors, or to create a digital Frankenstein out of the body parts of real actors.

With SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP having reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, it appears that the long-stalled beginning of Oscar campaign season for the many actors, forbidden from participating in any form of promotion for movies distributed and made by struck studios and streamers, finally can join the party. Until now, the FYC campaigns largely have been fronted by directors, craftspeople and, more recently with the end of the WGA strike, writers. For many voters, however, it is the lure of the stars that fills seats at FYC screening events and gets tune-in to the late-night talk shows and other promotional outlets so often used during the season to bring attention to a contender.

SAG-AFTRA and the studios have finally reached a tentative deal on a new contract after pausing Hollywood for 118 days.

After 118 days of the actors guild being out on strike, SAG-AFTRA and the studios have reached a tentative deal on a new contract that could see Hollywood up and running again within weeks.

The lead negotiators for SAG-AFTRA and the studios are set to meet later today in what could be the final phase to sealing a new deal and the end to the 117-day actors guild strike.

EXCLUSIVE: A deal may not be in the cards tonight, but SAG-AFTRA and the studios could be heading back to negotiations within hours.

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.

Christopher Vourlias With the resolution of the Hollywood writers strike in September, hopes were high for a return to business as usual in bustling Budapest, host to such recent high-profile productions as Yorgos Lanthimos’ Venice sensation and Oscar frontrunner “Poor Things.” But the sudden breakdown in negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP in early October dampened that enthusiasm. “We were starting to get momentum back, which was leading us to believe that we would be opening up offices on new shows in early November, on the assumption that the strike would be over by the end of October,” says Adam Goodman of Mid Atlantic Films, which is currently servicing Peacock and Sky’s spy series “The Day of the Jackal.” Instead, a waiting game is playing out in studios and C-suites across the globe, as actors, talent reps, executives and other industry players not only try to hash out a blueprint for the film and TV business moving forward but plot the next step for the many productions put on pause during the nearly four-month-old strike.

EXCLUSIVE: There’s real movement in talks between SAG-AFTRA and the studios for a new three-year contract,

EXCLUSIVE: “There’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Progress has been made toward ending the SAG-AFTRA strike in recent days, but “a lot” of issues are still on the table, the union’s chief negotiator said Monday morning. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the chief negotiator and executive director of the guild, made an appearance at the Disney picket lines. In an interview outside the studio gates, he would not hazard a guess as to when the strike will be over.

EXCLUSIVE: SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP continued to communicate intermittently Sunday as they close in on possibly reaching a new deal that could end the 108-day strike.

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

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

EXCLUSIVE: SAG-AFTRA and the studios don’t have a deal, but they are planning on talking more.

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