July 13, 2023 - Actors will go on strike after contract talks collapse

Actors are standing in support of SAG-AFTRA going on strike and are pointing out the impact the move will have on both sides.

The official strike declaration comes after SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee’s talks with major studios and streaming services about a new contract failed, even after the original deadline to make a deal was extended by weeks and a federal mediator got involved.

On the red carpet of the “Oppenheimer” premiere in London — moments before the cast walked out in solidarity with the strike — Matt Damon told Deadline that a strike will impact his new production company that he started with Ben Affleck.

“It’s going to be tough for the actors, for 160,000 actors. Nobody wants a work stoppage,” Damon added. “But if our leadership is saying that the deal isn’t fair then we’ve got to hold strong until we get a deal that’s fair for working actors.”

Margot Robbie, who stars in the upcoming “Barbie” movie, told Sky News during the movie’s London premiere Wednesday night that she’s “absolutely” in support of a SAG-AFTRA strike.

“Abbott Elementary” actor Sheryl Lee Ralph was nominated for an Emmy on Wednesday, but she told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published shortly after her nod was announced that the news is bittersweet.

“We’re fighting for our art,” Ralph said, adding, “We’re fighting for what we love, and what we know people love. We’re not big million-dollar companies. No, we’re people, and we want to enjoy what we do, and we want to make a living at it. That’s what this is about.”

The cast of director Christopher Nolan’s hotly anticipated war-era drama “Oppenheimer” is standing united in the effort to support the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Stars of the film appeared on the red carpet of the film’s UK premiere on Thursday before the strike was officially announced, but they ended up walking out of the event “to write their picket signs,” according to Nolan.

Addressing the audience inside the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square theater before the screening began, as seen in videos posted to social media, Nolan acknowledged the work of Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh and Robert Downey Jr., among other “Oppenheimer” cast members.

Nolan continued that the actors who left the “Oppenheimer” premiere in support of the union that represents them join “one of my guilds, the Writer’s Guild, in the struggle for fair wages for working members of the union, and we support them.”

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike since May.

The SAG-AFTRA strike is set to go into effect at midnight PT Thursday night.

“Oppenheimer” is scheduled to premiere in theaters on July 21.

The potential economic impact of the combined SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike could cause $4 billion or more in damage, especially if the actors are not able to come to terms quickly, according to Kevin Klowden, the chief global strategist for the Milken Institute, an economic think tank.

He said this impact won't be isolated just to the United States. The effects of the strike will spread to other English-speaking locations where American production companies are making movies and TV shows, Klowden said. 

"So London and the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and other places, which either have studios or even do post-production, will face a real impact," he said.

Both the writers union and the actors union striking at the same time means that the labor disputes will be felt nearly universally in the US, Klowden said,

Studios are much more worried about both the immediate and medium-term impact of an actors’ strike, and the fact that Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers called for federal mediators in these negotiations, but not with the writers, is very telling, according to Klowden.

He added that this also removes the ability of the studios to isolate the writers’ strike as unique, as they aimed to do by settling with the Director’s Guild.

SAG-AFTRA's negotiator pushed back about an alleged claim made by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) that its proposal would offer protections surrounding the use of AI likeness of actors.

During Thursday's news conference, a reporter asked Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, chief SAG-AFTRA negotiator, about an alleged AMPTP news release that claimed that a "groundbreaking AI proposal" would protect an actor's digital likeness.

Crabtree-Ireland said that proposal would allow background performers' likenesses to be used repeatedly and indefinitely — all while the performers are paid for only one day of work.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said she believes fans and consumers "have an allegiance" to the actors on strike because of the joy that their content brings.

The union represents about 160,000 actors. With their strike, SAG-AFTRA members will now join the more than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike against the same studios since the start of May.

That strike had already halted production of most movies and scripted television programs. There has been no apparent progress in ending the action.

Now, there are concerns that with actors joining the writers on strike, the shutdowns could stretch through the summer and perhaps even persist through the end of the year.

The actors’ strike is expected to bring most of the remaining productions to a halt, with the exception of some independent films not associated with major studios.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said that the 160,000 actors who will be on strike starting Friday are fighting for bigger issues, against things like jobs being replaced by artificial intelligence and corporate greed.

"This is a moment of history, a moment of truth. If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble," she said at Thursday's press conference. "We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines and big business, who care more about Wall Street than you and your family."

Drescher said she started negotiations thinking a strike could be avoided, and was shocked by what she said was the corporate greed of management's proposals.

"We are the victims here. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity," she said. "I can not believe about how far apart we are."

It is expected that there will be job losses outside of the film and television industry, especially in Southern California, because of the hit to businesses that support the industry and depending on spending by those in the industry. She said the striking workers' "hearts bleed for them."

"It’s a terrible thing to have to do, but we were forced into it," she said.

And she concluded the press conference saying she expects the general public will support the actors in the strike, and issuing a warning that foretold what could happen if they don't win.

"We are being taken advantage of in a terrible way," she said. "If we let this happen to us, dollars to donuts it going to happen to you and your family, your children and everyone you work with too. That’s how threatening this moment is in our nation’s history."

On the heels of Emmy nominations this week, fans won't see their favorite actors or actresses promoting any of their nominated or new projects.

That's because the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has voted to go on strike, the union announced Thursday.

This kind of promotion includes things like appearing on the red carpet at movie premieres or doing interviews on podcasts, for example. Of course, the writer's strike brought an immediate halt to new episodes of US late night shows, so the opportunity to do that sort of publicity was already limited.

As for projects that have not been released yet, most remaining production will stop. The exception will be independent movies that are not associated with one of the major studios.

CNN's Chris Isidore contributed reporting to this post.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher emphasized the gravity of the decision for the union, which represents about 160,000 actors, to go on strike at midnight PT Friday morning.

She said the union will not accept changes to the contract that do not match up to the changes happening in the industry.

The union is asking for increased pay and progress on residuals paid for when films or shows are shown again, particularly on streaming services.

"We're not going to keep doing incremental changes on a contract that no longer honors what is happening right now with this business model that was foisted upon us," she said at a news conference Thursday.

After 160,000 SAG-AFTRA union members approved a strike Thursday, the TV and film studios lashed out in a statement, saying the union had turned its back on a substantial offer for higher pay and benefits.

The coalition of movie and TV studios said it had offered actors the highest percentage increase in minimums in 35 years, including an increase in residuals and limits on AI usage.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher pushed back on the AMPTP's characterization of the deal at a news conference.

"It's really egregious and disgusting," Drescher said. "We were really so marginalized, so dishonored, and so disrespected."