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

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The CEOs of four major entertainment companies offered SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday an improved bonus for the most-watched streaming shows, as well as higher increases in minimum rates. But the studios are still not offering a cut of total streaming revenue, which the actors union has made the centerpiece of its demands to end its 104-day strike. SAG-AFTRA is expected to deliver its response to the studios’ latest proposal today.

EXCLUSIVE: The first day of the latest round of renewed talks between the studios and SAG-AFTRA has ended, with proposed plans for the principals to meet again — possibly in the next day or so.

This is day 103 of SAG-AFTRA strike.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Four CEOs are set to return to SAG-AFTRA headquarters on Tuesday with a new offer that they hope will break the stalemate in the 102-day actors strike. Among them will be Disney’s Bob Iger, who called SAG-AFTRA’s top negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, on Saturday to invite the actors back to the bargaining table. The CEOs — who also include David Zaslav of Warner Bros.

#SagAftraMembers:As we mark the 100th day of our strike, we are pleased to confirm the company executives have asked us to return to the table. Official Negotiations will resume on Tuesday, October 24th. (1/5) pic.twitter.com/m5llCsTqxq— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) October 21, 2023The strike began on July 14, when SAG-AFTRA – the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists – failed to come to an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over increased pay, a share of streaming revenues and protection against actors’ images and voices being replicated by AI.Talks between the two parties broke down on October 11, in a move that senior figures in SAG-AFTRA described as a “surprise move”.“It is clear that the strength and solidarity shown by our members has sent an unmistakable message to the CEOs,” continued SAG-AFTRA’s statement.

EXCLUSIVE: Ted Sarandos may have insisted today that he and other studio CEOs want to end the over three-month long actors strike and “get everyone back to work,” but for SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator, the Netflix boss is full of nothing but hot air.

Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos expects streaming data to become “much more transparent” in the near term, conforming with metrics for movies, TV and music.

“We want nothing more than to resolve this and get everyone back to work,” declared Netflix’s Ted Sarandos at the top of the streamer’s Q3 earnings video call Wednesday, exactly a week after talks with the actors guild ceased, for now. “That’s true for Netflix. That’s true for every member of the AMPTP,” the co-CEO added of his studio peers.

Netflix’s multi-year deal with Skydance Animation, which shifted over from Apple TV+, “helps complement the work that we’re doing” with original animated fare, Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said.

Netflix is adamant that it’s not interested in live sports.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos says that “part “of the reason the streamer has long been tight-lipped about viewership data — even when it came to disclosing numbers to those creating the TV shows and films for the platform — is because of the talent’s own concerns about feeling “pretty trapped” by ratings and box office performance. “At the time we started creating original programming, our creators felt like they were pretty trapped in this kind of overnight ratings world and weekend box office world defining their success and failures,” Sarandos said during a prerecorded analyst interview that went live Wednesday, following Netflix’s report on its third-quarter financial results.

Netflix said it’s working on modifications to CEO pay policies after a majority of shareholder voting not to approve executive compensation in a non-binding vote at the last annual meeting. The company had said as much earlier this year.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Netflix subscribers grew by 8.76 million in Q3, totaling 247.15 million by the end of the fiscal period Sept. 30.

Negotiations between the studios and the striking actors guild may have come to a sudden halt last week, but according to Netflix today everyone is still talking – even when they aren’t.

When Netflix announced in April that it’s planning to spend $2.5 billion on Korean content across the next four years, on top of the more than $1 billion already spent since 2016, it made the world sit up and take notice.

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.

In an interview of the Today show this morning, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher called the AMPTP’s walk out on strike negotiations this week “wrong,” “unfair,” and “disrespectful.”

Ellise Shafer SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher made an appearance on the “Today” show Friday morning to share her perspective on why the union’s talks with the AMPTP broke down. “It really came as a shock to me because what does that exactly mean and why would you walk away from the table? It’s not like we’re asking for anything that’s so outrageous,” Drescher said.

Netflix’s Ted Sarandos has claimed that SAG-AFTRA asked for a levy on every subscriber to streaming service, which led to the breakdown in talks to end the actors strike.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos shed some light on why negotiations between striking actors union SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood’s biggest producers fell apart. After a blistering statement from the guild in the wee hours on Thursday morning accused the studios and streamers of “bully tactics,” Sarandos hit the main stage of Bloomberg’s Screentime conference and ran headfirst into questions about the breakdown. Sarandos said that Wednesday evening talks ended with the guild proposing a “levy” on on each of Netflix’s roughly 238 million subscribers.

The latest round of talks between the studios and SAG-AFTRA on ending the 92-day strike have collapsed tonight and now he Fran Drescher-led guild are accusing the AMPTP of using “bully tactics” and “the same failed strategy they tried to inflict on the WGA.”

After a rough day of negotiations Wednesday, the actors guild and the studios have pulled the plug for now.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor NBCUniversal content chief Donna Langley has vowed that the top executives involved in contract negotiations with SAG-AFTRA will devote the time it takes to reach a new deal. Langley, who is chairman of NBCUniversal Studio Group and chief content officer of NBCUniversal, declined to say much about the state of talks with the performers union during her address Wednesday evening at Bloomberg Media’s Screentime conference in Hollywood. But she did express that her executive counterparts in the negotiating room — Disney’s Bob Iger, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros.

There was no picketing Monday by SAG-AFTRA members due to the Indigenous Peoples Day holiday, but the leadership of the actors guild did return to the bargaining table with the studios and streamers.

Writers have officially approved their deal with the studios.

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”.

K.J. Yossman Kristy Matheson had big shoes to fill when she took over from Tricia Tuttle as director of the BFI London Film Festival (LFF) earlier this year. Over the course of a decade, Tuttle transformed LFF into a highlight of the fall festival calendar, drawing some of the biggest names in entertainment to the English capital each October including, memorably, Ted Sarandos and Beyoncé, who flew in to celebrate the world premiere of “The Harder They Fall” in 2021.

One down, and more to come.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Actors union SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP concluded a full day of negotiations on Monday, the first time negotiators have been in a room together since the union declared a strike on July 14. While little details were shared about the talks, both sides plan to meet again this week. “SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP met for a full day bargaining session and have concluded.