With a deadline looming and no signs of any movement toward a contract agreement, a strike by Hollywood actors appeared increasingly likely Tuesday, a move that would put performers on the picket lines with writers who walked off the job more than two months ago.
There were reports Tuesday that some Hollywood heavyweights — among them Disney CEO Bob Iger — were making moves in hopes of averting a strike by the SAG-AFTRA union, which represents about 160,000 performers. But as of Tuesday afternoon, there was no word of any progress that a deal will be struck between the union and Hollywood studios before the SAG-AFTRA contract expires at midnight Wednesday night.
The contract was initially set to expire on June 30, but the union at the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers agreed to an extension so they could continue talks.
The trade publication Variety reported Tuesday that Iger and other Hollywood heavyweights, including Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros./Discovery’s David Zaslav, took part in a conference call Monday night to discuss the possibility of summoning a federal mediator to help break the negotiations stalemate and avert a strike. It was unclear, however, if SAG-AFTRA would agree to such a move and again extend its existing contract.
The Los Angeles Times, citing sources familiar with the talks, reported that SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP negotiators were discussing the idea of a federal mediator.
Variety and Deadline both reported that the heads of Hollywood’s major talent agencies — Ari Emanuel of WME, Bryan Lourd of CAA and UTA’s Jeremy Zimmer — recently reached out to the SAG-AFTRA leadership to offer their help in finding a path to avoiding a strike. According to Deadline, SAG-AFTRA officials were receptive to Emanuel’s offer for assistance, but it was unclear what form that might take.
The contract negotiations have been conducted under a mutually agreed-upon media blackout, so there have been no public updates from SAG-AFTRA or AMPTP on the status of the talks.
The actors’ union is focusing on many of the same issues that pushed the Writers Guild of America union to call a strike on May 2, including calls for revised residual formulas for streaming content and protections against the use of artificial intelligence in film and TV production.
The actors union has not gone on strike since 1980. The WGA went out on strike for 100 days starting in 2007. If SAG-AFTRA calls for a strike, it would be a rare double-barreled labor action, effectively shutting down what little production was still occurring since the writers walked off the job.
Negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP began on June 7.
The AMPTP has already reached a three-year contract deal with the Directors Guild of America. The pact was overwhelmingly ratified by DGA members on June 24.
The DGA-AMPTP deal includes a 12.5% salary increase over a three-year period for directors, plus a “substantial” increase in residuals for streaming content — including a 76% increase in foreign residuals for the largest platforms and mutual confirmation that artificial intelligence is not a person and cannot replace the duties performed by DGA members.
That deal came after less than a month of negotiations, ahead of a June 30 expiration of the DGA’s previous contract.