SAG-AFTRA Accuses Studios Of “Bully Tactics” & Misrepresentation Over Revenue-Sharing Proposal Costs As Negotiations Crater
The latest round of talks between the studios and SAG-AFTRA over ending the actors’ now 92-day strike collapsed Wednesday night. As the fallout and blame game begins, the Fran Drescher-led guild is accusing the AMPTP of using “bully tactics” and “the same failed strategy they tried to inflict on the WGA” to cripple the deliberations.
“We feel the pain these companies have inflicted on our members, our strike captains, IATSE, Teamsters and Basic Crafts union members, and everyone in this industry,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement released in the early hours of Thursday after the studios earlier slammed them for costly demands and abandoning “productive negotiations” after less than two weeks of renewed negotiations.
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“We have sacrificed too much to capitulate to their stonewalling and greed. We stand united and ready to negotiate today, tomorrow, and every day,” the TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee led by Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said.
Read SAG-AFTRA’s full statement below.
Since the restarting of deliberations between the parties October 2, after the WGA made a tentative deal with the studios the previous week — and ended their nearly 150-day strike several days later — SAG-AFTRA has been hunkered down bargaining with the CEO Gang of Four and AMPTP boss Carol Lombardini.
RELATED: NBCU’s Donna Langley On Actors Strike & Protecting The “Moviegoing Cadence”
As they had been for much of the final push last month for a deal with the writers and previous talks with the actors, Warner Bros Discovery’s David Zaslav, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley and Disney’s Bob Iger were all present Wednesday at SAG-AFTRA’s Wilshire Blvd HQ for a longer than usual session, the second of this week. Cited as “much rockier than usual” by one industry source, the meeting and the talks overall were suspended after the two sides could not find a way to mutually cut the Gordian knot of SAG-AFTRA’s revenue-sharing proposal as well as the issue of AI.
That effort may have always been doomed to be in vain as the revenue-sharing notion was rejected from the get-go by the AMPTP when the parties first started bargaining over a new contract earlier this summer. Surprisingly shocking the studios in many ways, SAG-AFTRA went out on strike July 14. They joined the writers, who went out on their first strike since 2008 on May 2, for the two guilds’ first mutual labor action since 1960 — when Ronald Regan was head of the actors’ union.
Reignited after around 100 days of silence, discussions between the WGA and the AMPTP in mid-August soon stumbled. Like Wednesday with SAG-AFTRA, the studios tried to cut down the Writers Guild leadership and go to members directly by making public their most recent offer. The flex failed and the WGA and AMPTP didn’t speak again for more than a month — a month of hardship for the vast majority of strikers and vendors whose businesses or services support the entertainment industry in L.A. County and elsewhere.
Channeling the later anti-union Reagan to some extent here, SAG-AFTRA made a particular point this morning of countering the studios’ estimation that the actors guild’s long-suggested profit-split proposal would cost “more than $800 million per year,” or $2.4 billion over the range of a new three-year contact. “We have made big, meaningful counters on our end, including completely transforming our revenue share proposal, which would cost the companies less than 57¢ per subscriber each year,” the guild asserted in its email to its 160,00-strong membership today. “They have rejected our proposals and refused to counter.
“Instead they use bully tactics,” the guild added in what has become a familiar accusation against the heavy-handed AMPTP over the years. “Just tonight, they intentionally misrepresented to the press the cost of the above proposal – overstating it by 60%. They have done the same with A.I., claiming to protect performer consent, but continuing to demand ‘consent’ on the first day of employment for use of a performer’s digital replica for an entire cinematic universe (or any franchise project).”
Contributing further to the appearance of a disingenuous stance by the studios, NBCU’s Langley told the Bloomberg Screentime conference late Wednesday that “we’ve been spending time with the actors and we want to spend as much time as it takes to reach a resolution and get back to work.”
Langley had just come from the contract talks, which had already been suspended. Officially neither the AMPTP nor SAG-AFTRA said anything about the state of the talks until Langley left the stage at the Hollywood-based conference and was on her way out the door.
Even before the cratering of the renewed talks last night, SAG-AFTRA had picket lines planned for studio lots and offices across L.A. and NYC today. Now, with supporters surely out in strength, that is where the action is going to shift once again, at least for a while.
Here’s SAG-AFTRA’s full statement to members:
It is with profound disappointment that we report the industry CEOs have walked away from the bargaining table after refusing to counter our latest offer. We have negotiated with them in good faith, despite the fact that last week they presented an offer that was, shockingly, worth less than they proposed before the strike began.
These companies refuse to protect performers from being replaced by AI, they refuse to increase your wages to keep up with inflation, and they refuse to share a tiny portion of the immense revenue YOUR work generates for them. We have made big, meaningful counters on our end, including completely transforming our revenue share proposal, which would cost the companies less than 57¢ per subscriber each year. They have rejected our proposals and refused to counter.
Instead they use bully tactics. Just tonight, they intentionally misrepresented to the press the cost of the above proposal – overstating it by 60%. They have done the same with A.I., claiming to protect performer consent, but continuing to demand “consent” on the first day of employment for use of a performer’s digital replica for an entire cinematic universe (or any franchise project).
The companies are using the same failed strategy they tried to inflict on the WGA – putting out misleading information in an attempt to fool our members into abandoning our solidarity and putting pressure on our negotiators. But, just like the writers, our members are smarter than that and will not be fooled.
We feel the pain these companies have inflicted on our members, our strike captains, IATSE, Teamsters and Basic Crafts union members, and everyone in this industry. We have sacrificed too much to capitulate to their stonewalling and greed. We stand united and ready to negotiate today, tomorrow, and every day.
Our resolve is unwavering. Join us on picket lines and at solidarity events around the country and let your voices be heard.
One day longer. One day stronger. As long as it takes.
Your TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee
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