US actors have voted to authorize a strike if they can’t agree a new contract with major studios, streamers and production companies.
SAG-AFTRA members, representing more than 160,000 film actors, broadcasters, announcers, hosts and stunt performers, voted Monday night to start negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, one month after the strike began of the Writers Guild of America.
The actors say they were undermined by inflation and the streaming ecosystem, the threat of unregulated use of artificial intelligence, benefit plans and the burden of “self-recorded auditions” – the cost of which was borne by the casting and production.
The WGA, DGA and SAG-AFTRA have shown solidarity with each other since the writers’ inception, but the directors’ guild announced on Sunday night that it had reached a “truly historic” tentative agreement with the studios . Not all of these details have been disclosed yet.
A SAG-AFTRA strike would be limited to television and film productions; news and broadcast work would not be directly affected.
But it would also impact US actors doing jobs internationally, like Australia, and effectively stop some projects there.
A deadline for negotiations is June 30.
The current writers’ strike is also driving US networks to release fall schedules jam-packed with unscripted TV titles.
The WGA’s negotiations with the AMPTP broke down on May 1, but both say they are willing to resume negotiations.
Source: Time
