Actors’ strike in Hollywood
Those are the open points of contention
SAG-AFTRA strikes alongside WGA writers’ union.
© imago images/UPI Photo
Open points of contention and clarified questions: The actors’ union has presented a detailed document on the strike.
Actors in the US have been on strike since Friday, July 14, and the fronts with the studios seem to have hardened. Actors’ union SAG-AFTRA has now, according to “The Hollywood Reporter” published a detailed document. It lists all the points of contention on which SAG-AFTRA could not agree with the producers’ association AMPTP. The conflicting positions of the two sides are contrasted in detail.
Negotiations between the SAG-AFTRA (short for Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) collapsed on July 12. The union around “The Nanny” star Fran Drescher (65) called for a strike.
Minimum wage and artificial intelligence: The main points of contention
First up, according to the SAG-AFTRA document, is the requirement for a minimum wage so performers can keep up with inflation. The union demanded an eleven percent wage increase in the first year. The AMPTP offered a maximum of five percent.
Another important point is how to deal with artificial intelligence in the future. SAG-AFTRA is fighting here to “protect our images and performances to prevent human performances from being replaced by artificial intelligence technologies.” She demands “fair compensation if a digital replica is created or our performance is altered using artificial intelligence.” The artists should be informed in detail before they agree to this step.
Producers want to create a digital likeness of actors working behind the scenes, according to the union. After they have paid these actors for half a day, they want to use their digital copy for new scenes without the consent of those affected – at least that’s the horror vision of SAG-AFTRA.
Other unanswered questions were, for example, the participation of actors in the income generated by broadcasts on streaming platforms. Main actors of series should also be allowed to shoot elsewhere in the break between two seasons.
These agreements have been reached
The two parties have already been able to agree on a few issues, as the document reveals. This primarily concerns questions of diversity and safety on the set. The negotiating partners agreed, for example, that the producers should endeavor to provide intimacy coordinators for sex scenes. In addition, no actor should be forced to play a person of a different ethnic origin with make-up or wigs.
There was also a breakthrough in relieving actors who audition for a role with videos they made themselves. The actors recently had to invest a lot of time and money here.
The AMPTP, which represents studios and streaming providers, sees itself misrepresented by the SAG-AFTRA. Their offers were “intentionally distorted,” as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. The proposals, which are said to have been communicated orally to the union on July 12, are said to have been omitted from the communication.