2023 was a labor-heavy year for the entertainment industry thanks to the Hollywood strikes. While actors, writers, and directors now have new deals, other parts of the industry are still working to ensure better conditions and AI safeguards.
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Late Friday night, it was revealed SAG-AFTRA members have fully ratified a new three-year contract for TV animation. It appears to have been a pretty high voter turnout, with 95.52% of those who voted in favor of the conditions. According to SAG, parts of this contract were boosted by the TV/Theatrical contract struck last year, such as AI protections. It’ll go into effect starting July 1 and run through June 30, 2026.
Key AI points include performers having to give their consent when prompting a genAI system with a specific voice actor’s name. Producers will also have to notify and negotiate with SAG-AFTRA if a synthetic voice is used instead of a voice actor’s, and the previous contract’s “major facial feature” requirement has now been removed. If a performer’s voice has been digitally altered into a foreign language and that performance is used, the actor will be eligible for “all applicable residuals.”
Outside of AI, minimum wage will increase by 7% (retroactively applied to July 1, 2023), followed by 4% in year two and 3.5% in year three. Changes to SVOD high-budget residuals (both domestic and foreign) have been fully implemented after they were previously secured in SAG-AFTRA’s TV/theatrical agreement last year, and both Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth have been recognized as contractual holidays. Finally, the union can request up to two meetings per year with the AMPTP and studios to discuss paying performers on time.
“The foundation of this agreement was based on the feedback we got from members who work these contracts, and that remained the negotiating committee’s focus throughout bargaining. We are proud to have delivered an agreement that offers big wins in those areas,” said TV Animation negotiating co-chairs Bob Bergen and David Jolliffe. “This is the first SAG-AFTRA animation voiceover contract with protections against the misuse of artificial intelligence.”
Added chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, “This contract represents a meaningful step forward in expanding our A.I. protections. The contract provides important new terms in the areas of foreign residuals, high-budget SVOD productions, late payments and much more. I am gratified we were able to achieve these significant gains without the need for a work stoppage.”
The labor negotiations in entertainment aren’t done yet. SAG-AFTRA is still in talks with video game studios over an agreement for video game voice actors, and organzations like local IATSE groups and the Animation Guild are expected (or currently are) having talks with the AMPTP and studios in the near future.
You can read the full four-page breakdown of SAG-AFTRA’s new contract here.
ITV boss Carolyn McCall has detailed the potential for a post-strike “blip” as commissioning conversations are restarted with U.S. buyers, while the head of ITV Studios described generative AI as a “co-pilot for creatives.”
Speaking after the publication of ITV’s full-year results, which saw profits tumble by 32% amidst a tricky ad market, McCall said a factor “never really talked about” in relation to last year’s months-long U.S. labor strikes is that “commissioning conversations could not happen and we were not allowed to pitch ideas or discuss anything that would build a pipeline.”
“This is never really talked about but is also quite an important factor in the market,” she said, adding that the more obvious impact of the strike physically delaying productions had been prominent in discussions.
Pressed on whether this could lead to a surge in commissioning from U.S. buyers, McCall said “we are saying this is a blip and permanent conversations will start filtering through. I don’t know about a bump, but this is a blip.”
The writers and actors strikes debilitated commissioning around the world and U.S. buyers are only just returning to a semblance of normality, while many major media congloms are posing existential questions over their place in the market.
ITV has already said that the strikes will delay around £80M ($101M) of turnover from 2024 to 2025 but 2023 was a good year for its streamer shows. The proportion of revenue from SVoDs rose by 10 percentage points last year for production arm ITV Studios to 32%, which is already ahead of its five-year target to hit by 2026. Successes included Netflix drama Fool Me Once and Squid Game: The Challenge, although ITV is not increasing the target in response.
Studios boss Julian Bellamy acknowledged a “tougher market” with “some free-to-air clients slowing commissioning,” but he said the production arm is “optimistic” in the medium term.
He said ITV Studios is “outgrowing” the market on certain metrics such as content licensing and unscripted shows for streamers.
AI “co-pilots”
Bellamy spoke to the debate around generative AI and was bullish about how the growing tech can help rather than hinder ITV and its production arm.
He described generative AI as a “co-pilot for creatives” but stressed it won’t be “substitutional.” “It won’t write the next Succession. We see it as something that over time will be helpful but is much more embryonic.” McCall, meanwhile, talked up how AI is helping streamer ITVX with targeted ads.
The pair were speaking a few weeks after Slow Horses director James Hawes unveiled research showing that AI could write the entirety of a TV soap within three to five years, which comes after the BBC axed Doctors and Channel 4 parred back Hollyoaks.
Too early to talk layoffs
ITV’s profits tumbled by 32% last year due in the main to the tricky ad market. The broadcaster this morning revealed it is implementing a “strategic restructuring and efficiency programme across the group to reshape the cost base and enhance profitability.”
Responding to a question from Deadline, McCall said it is “too early to say specifically” whether the program will lead to layoffs but “we will keep the market updated as we go through.”
The program is designed to “de-risk” any “cyclical or structural” shocks that may occur in future, McCall said.
“You can’t do that completely but what we are doing is building ourselves headroom and future-proofing,” she added. “That is why we have accelerated what we are doing and it is across everything.”
By the end of 2024, ITV expects the program to have made savings of at least £50M per year. It said today it has more broadly delivered £130M of its £150M cost savings target by 2026 and will hit this figure a year early.
“We all cried,” says Fran Drescher, recalling the moment that SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative agreement to end the actors strike on Wednesday night. “It was such a relief and a release. I felt like one of those tennis stars, like Djokovic when he won the US Open and fell to his knees and wept on the court.”
For the last 30 years, Drescher was best known for her role as sweetly brash working woman Fran Fine in the classic 1990s sitcom The Nanny. That changed on July 13, when Drescher, in her role as SAG-AFTRA president, announced that the actors would be going on strike. In her familiar, adenoidal Queens accent, she hurled scathing invective at the entertainment studios and streamers represented by the AMPTP—“a greedy entity” that she deemed to be “on the wrong side of history.”
Suddenly, she had transformed herself into a Hollywood labor leader—someone who, alongside SAG national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, would hold out for 118 days to get the guild’s membership a deal that might help actors survive the chaos and industry contraction of the next few years. Over the course of the strike, she made waves by calling out Disney chief Bob Iger, and she provoked gossip by reading out Buddhist quotes and bringing a heart-shaped plush toy into negotiations.
The strike officially ended in the wee hours of Thursday morning, though SAG-AFTRA’s members have not yet ratified the contract. Drescher says she is confident that her guild negotiated “an amazing deal” that includes a new mechanism for streaming compensation, increases actors minimum pay, and puts guardrails around the use of AI. Sounding a little hoarse after all the excitement, Drescher talks to Vanity Fair about taking on Hollywood’s CEOs, rallying A-list celebs, reading Buddhist words of wisdom in the negotiation room, and getting a deal done.
Vanity Fair:I imagine it has been a pretty exhausting 24 hours.
Fran Drescher: It’s everything. I’m relieved, I’m exhausted, and I’m triumphant. The stress has been lifted off me. I don’t know how much more any of us in the negotiating committee could have taken. And the fact that we got a historic deal just makes it that much more delicious
What feels like the biggest win?
Definitely putting barricades around AI. That was very important because we’re at a historic moment with all of this technology, and if we didn’t get it in a contract that protected our members right here right now, it was going to get so far ahead of us that it would be just outside of our grasp. Now we got our full proposal, and we’re going to meet with the AMPTP members twice a year to keep our finger on the pulse of how it is advancing.
What didn’t you get that frustrates you?
For the first time, after fighting for 20 years, we got performance capture. Which is a great thing, but they didn’t want to talk about facial or motion capture. That has to get in there, and it will next time. We needed desperately to get revenue for streaming platforms and we got that. Was it what I had imagined way back when? No, it’s something else…a bonus that goes into a fund, and then we can figure out how it gets distributed. We also spent a lot of time talking about self-tapes for auditions and interviews, which monopolized the casting industry during Covid. There were no real regulations—everybody just told actors that they had to do them if they wanted the privilege of trying out for the job, so that had to be regulated. Now, did we get everything we wanted with that? No. Did we get some really good things? Yes. Are we already making a list of what’s gonna come next? Of course!
Kevin Bacon kicked off his Sunday shoes on Thursday to recreate a “Footloose” moment in celebration of the actors strike ending.
The actor shared video (watch below) of him busting some vintage moves from his career-catapulting 1984 film, after SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios on Wednesday.
“Strike over!” he wrote, tagging the labor union’s account on X (formerly Twitter).
Backlit by an open door in what appears to be a barn, the 65-year-old Bacon boogies to Kenny Loggins’ “Footloose.”
The clip appeared to be a nod to the warehouse scene of his “Footloose” character Ren McCormack, the boy who fought a bible-belt town’s ban on dancing.
The role turbocharged Bacon’s star power and now he has another reason for happy feet: SAG-AFTRA reportedly secured a deal with Hollywood studios that exceeds $1 billion to guarantee higher minimum salaries and streaming residuals.
Kevin Bacon is showing his excitement for the 118-day actors strike ending with some memorable dance moves.
On Thursday, the actor shared a video of him in what appears to be an empty barn, re-creating his iconic dance from the 1984 film as Moving Pictures’ song “Never” plays in the background. The clip was joined with the caption, “Strike over! @sagaftra.”
The scene he references is when his character, angst-ridden Ren McCormack, punchdances around an abandoned warehouse in the Oscar-nominated movie.
Bacon follows in the footsteps of several other stars, including Mandy Moore, Alec Baldwin, Octavia Spencer and Noah Schnapp, who took to social media to celebrate after it was announced that SAG-AFTRA had officially reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract with studios and streamers. The deal came after weeks of renewed negotiations between the union and AMPTP as Hollywood waited in anticipation.
But rather than putting his feelings into words, Bacon decided to put it into dance, alluding to the iconic film that launched his career. The actor, who starred opposite Lori Singer, played Ren, a city teen who moves to a small town where rock music and dancing have been banned. With his rebellious spirit, he looks to shake up the town and convince the city council to lift the ban on dancing.
Earlier this year, Bacon opened up about how he struggled with fame following the success of Footloose.
“I was so into what my idea of a serious actor was, and all of a sudden I was given this thing [Footloose] that was completely not a serious actor,” he said on an episode of Podcrushed in September. “So I rejected it, like, full on. And really, I think in some ways, I tried to self-sabotage that piece of myself and my popularity.”
Following more than 100 days of picketing, and over a month after the end of the writers’ strike, SAG-AFTRA announced on Wednesday that it has reached a deal for a new contract with the studios, effectively ending Hollywood’s monthslong work stoppage at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, November 9.
In an email to members on Wednesday night, SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee said that the new contract “will enable SAG-AFTRA members from every category to build sustainable careers.” SAG-AFTRA is valuing its deal at more than $1 billion, telling members, “we have achieved a deal of extraordinary scope that includes ‘above-pattern’ minimum compensation increases, unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI, and for the first time establishes a streaming participation bonus.”
In their own statement released on Wednesday, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said that the tentative agreement “represents a new paradigm” and “gives SAG-AFTRA the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union, including the largest increase in minimum wages in the last forty years; a brand new residual for streaming programs; extensive consent and compensation protections in the use of artificial intelligence; and sizable contract increases on items across the board. AMPTP is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement and looks forward to the industry resuming the work of telling great stories.”
Full details of the tentative agreement will be unveiled after the guild sends the terms to its national board for review on Friday, where members will have the opportunity to vote to ratify the contract.
Reactions to the news began pouring in immediately, with both Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and governor Gavin Newsom offering statements in support. “Those on the line have been the hardest hit during this period and there have been ripple effects throughout our entire city,” Bass wrote. “Now, we must lean in on local production to ensure that our entertainment industry rebounds stronger than ever and our economy is able to get back on its feet.” Newsom said, “actors have been fighting for better wages and the health and pension benefits they deserve,” adding, “I am thankful that we can now get this iconic industry back to work, not only for our writers and actors, but also the more than two million workers who power our world-class entertainment sector.”
Actors are similarly celebrating the tentative deal. Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, and Harris Dickinson learned of the strike’s end at the premiere for their upcoming movie, The Iron Claw, which earned an interim agreement for promotion from the union. “It makes me feel incredible,” Allen said once alerted to the news. “I don’t know the details of the deal but I’m sure that SAG got what we wanted, what they wanted.”
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Missed your favourite actors? After nearly four months of striking, they’re coming back.
Wednesday’s deal between striking actors and studios and streaming services won’t immediately restore filming to its full swing. That will take months.
But the tentative agreement — which both sides say include extraordinary provisions — means that more than six months of labour strife in the film and television industries is drawing to a close. Soon, tens of thousands of entertainment sector workers could get back to work. And popular franchises, like Deadpool, Abbott Elementary and The Last of Us, will be a step closer to returning to screens.
Hollywood loves a happy ending. The actors strike might provide that, though there’s still the chance of strike sequels in the months ahead.
Here’s some of what will happen next.
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Is the actors’ strike really over?
Picket lines are suspended and the only rallies on the horizon are celebratory ones that the actors’ union is promising will happen.
There are a couple of steps that need to happen before the deal becomes official. On Friday, the national board of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) will review the agreement and could approve it. Then, the agreement’s details will be released, and the guild’s full membership will vote on it.
But when striking screenwriters — who started picketing May 2 — reached their deal in September, their guild allowed writing work to resume before full ratification of the contract was complete.
While it’s possible those votes scuttle the deal, the union’s negotiating committee unanimously approved the deal and called off picketing.
What’s in the deal?
The exact terms of the deal won’t be released until later this week, but a few highlights are known.
The union says the deal is worth more than a billion dollars and they’ve “achieved a deal of extraordinary scope” that includes compensation increases, consent protections for use of artificial intelligence and actors’ likenesses and includes a “streaming participation bonus.”
SAG-AFTRA captain Mary M. Flynn rallies fellow striking actors on a picket line outside the Netflix studios, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, in Los Angeles.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
The negotiation arm of the studios also says the deal includes historic provisions. The Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers said Wednesday the “tentative agreement represents a new paradigm.”
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It said the companies are giving “SAG-AFTRA the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union, including the largest increase in minimum wages in the last forty years; a brand new residual for streaming programs; extensive consent and compensation protections in the use of artificial intelligence; and sizeable contract increases on items across the board.”
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s executive director and chief negotiator, told The Associated Press the gains made the long strike worth it.
“It’s an agreement that our members can be proud of. I’m certainly very proud of it,” Crabtree-Ireland told The Associated Press in an interview.
What will start filming first?
The strike put an immediate stop to Deadpool 3 with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, as well as Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel. Those are likely among the first films that will resume production.
The resolution of the writer’s strike allowed script work to resume on shows like Abbott Elementary, The White Lotus and Yellowjackets. That head start might help those productions get back on the air sooner once their stars are cleared to work.
Television moves faster than movies, which once filming ends still face a lengthy editing and promotional process.
In recent weeks more shows and movies announced delays — Kevin Costner’s final episodes of Yellowstone won’t air until next November and the next Mission: Impossible film also delayed its release.
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What other changes will I see now that the strike is over?
Actors, lots more actors, will be talking about their work again. Splashy premieres will resume with their stars, as well.
Movies like Killers of the Flower Moon and this week’s big release, The Marvels, have been without their stars to promote the film. Strike rules forbid actors from promoting work done for the major studios, which kept Leonardo DiCaprio, Brie Larson and many other actors from doing interviews.
That’s prevented many performers, like Killers of the Flower Moon breakout Lily Gladstone, from having some big celebratory moments.
Some projects have gotten exemptions, such as Michael Mann’s upcoming racing drama Ferrari. That freed stars Adam Driver and Patrick Dempsey to attend the Venice Film Festival — and also allowed Dempsey to do an interview with People when it named him its Sexiest Man Alive.
But as Hollywood heads into its award season, expect to see more glamorous red-carpet shots and interviews with stars.
What about awards season?
Well, it’s back on, and it’ll be supercharged.
One of the actors strike ripple effects was to push the Emmy Awards from September into January. It’ll now join the Grammys, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Oscars in Hollywood’s traditional awards season. Those shows will all air between Jan. 15 and March 10.
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Plans for the Emmys, and the SAG Awards, which will appear on Netflix, were in jeopardy as the strike got closer to 2024.
Still in limbo is the Golden Globe Awards, which is trying to reinvent itself after years of scandal but doesn’t yet have a U.S. broadcast partner.
After two major strikes, what’s next?
Another actors’ strike — this one by video game performers — is possible. Negotiations for that contract are ongoing, but a strike has been authorized.
Actors who work on video games range from voice performers to stunt performers. They, too, have expressed concerns about the use of AI in their industry.
The studios in 2024 will also be negotiating with set workers and their guild, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). From building sets to controlling the lighting and even creating effects, IATSE members are crucial to film and television production. They’ve been severely impacted by the filming shutdown and have joined the picket lines in the writers and actors strikes.
One of the key elements of the actors’ and writer’s strikes has been how much streaming has upended the industry, which could also be a key point in the set worker negotiations.
And other sectors of the industry have moved to unionize while this year’s dual strikes played out. Some reality television workers are calling for a union, while visual effects artists who work on Marvel films voted to join IATSE.
Hollywood’s actors union reached a tentative deal with studios Wednesday to end its strike, bringing a close to months of labor strife that ground the entertainment industry to a historic halt.
The three-year contract agreement must be approved by votes from the union’s board and its members in the coming days, but the leadership declared that the strike will end at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday.
At nearly four months, it was by far the longest strike ever for film and television actors.
More than 60,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Performers went on strike July 14, joining screenwriters who had walked off the job more than two months earlier. It was the first time the two unions had been on strike together since 1960. Studios chose to negotiate with the writers first, striking a deal that their leadership marked as a major win and bringing their strike to an end on Sept. 26.
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The terms of the agreement were not immediately released. SAG-AFTRA said details would be made public after a meeting on Friday where board members review the contract. Issues on the table included both short-term compensation and future royalty payments for film and TV performances, along with control over actors’ images and likenesses regenerated with artificial intelligence.
Hollywood writers, studios reach tentative deal to end strike
Executives from top entertainment companies including Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and Universal had a direct hand in negotiations, which like all Hollywood union talks were led by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The end of the strike announcement came hours after Disney CEO Robert Iger and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav reported their latest earning statements. Both executives said they hoped the strike would be resolved soon.
Disney’s shares rose based on its report, which said its net income jumped 63% to $264 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, up from $162 million a year earlier. Zaslav said on an earnings call that the studios’ last offer “ met virtually all of the union’s goals and includes the highest wage increase in 40 years.”
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Warner Bros. Discovery reported losses and saw its shares fall 19% Wednesday.
Although the writers strike had immediate, visible effects for viewers, including the months-long suspension of late-night talk shows and “ Saturday Night Live,” the impact of the actors’ absence was not as immediately apparent. But its ripple effects — delayed release dates and waits for new show seasons — could be felt for months or even years.
Actors should quickly return to movie sets where productions were paused, including “Deadpool 3,” “Gladiator 2” and “Wicked.” Other movies and shows will restart shooting once returning writers finish scripts.
And beyond scripted productions, the end of the strike allows actors to return to red carpets, talk shows and podcasts, as Hollywood’s awards season approaches.
“The SAG strike is over!! I can finally say it: watch my documentary Saturday night at 8 on HBO/MAX!” actor-director Albert Brooks said on social media moments after the strike ended. “Couldn’t say a word until now!!”
The only major awards show directly effected by the strike was the Emmys, which was moved from September to January. Now, the usual fall Oscar campaigns will mobilize.
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But any feeling of industry normalcy could prove temporary. The circumstances that brought on the strikes — the shift from traditional theatrical and broadcast media to streaming, and emerging tech like AI — have not been slowed. And the gains made by the strikes may embolden other Hollywood unions, or these same guilds in negotiations that will come up again in just a few years.
Union leaders treated the strike like a watershed moment from the start, coming as it did amid wider labor fights in other industries.
“I think it’s a conversation now about the culture of big business, and how it treats everybody up and down the ladder in the name of profit,” SAG-AFTRA President and “The Nanny” star Fran Drescher told The Associated Press in an August interview.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the executive director and chief negotiator who led the team that struck the deal for the guild, told the AP in August that he was “honored to be part of making sure that our members get a fair contract that’s going to protect them going into the future and make sure that the 14-year-olds I talked to on the Disney picket line still have the ability to be an actor when they turn 18.”
The agreement also means a return to sets for thousands of film crew members who have left with nothing to work on during the strikes. SAG-AFTRA sought to offset their hardship by allowing sometimes controversial interim agreements for some smaller productions to proceed, and by making their strike relief fund available to all workers in the industry.
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Associated Press Writer Krysta Fauria contributed to this report.
After 118 days on the picket lines, the guild that represents actors says it has reached a tentative agreement for a new contract, signaling the end of the paralysis that has plagued Hollywood for months. On Wednesday, SAG-AFTRA announced that it had unanimously voted to approve a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and would officially end the strike at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, November 9.
Actors returning to work means that production can resume, revving up the content machines that have been dormant for nearly six months. The actors began striking on July 14th, joining the Writers Guild of America, which was already more than two months into its own strike. SAG-AFTRA could not come to an agreement with AMPTP at the time over key issues such as increased compensation, streaming residuals, and AI, leading to rhetoric that grew increasingly polarized during the spring and summer.
“There’s a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said of the writers and actors just one day after the studios’ talks with SAG-AFTRA broke down. “They are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher had a different view, saying on the first day of the strike, “We are being victimized by a very greedy entity.” She argued that the studios and streamers represented by the AMPTP pled poverty in negotiations while “giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history, at this very moment.”
The actors strike elevated Drescher into a new type of public role, that of a labor leader. Though she got flack for flying to Italy for a Dolce & Gabbana promotional event just days before the SAG-AFTRA contract was set to expire, the actor previously best known for playing The Nanny approached her new position with such passion that even Saturday Night Live couldn’t pass up spoofing her in a recent sketch. Meanwhile, Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, and some of their fellow CEOs found themselves cast in the villain role over the summer, as picketers brandished signs admonishing the studio bosses.
The dual strikes wreaked devastation across the entertainment industry—shutting down productions, bumping awards shows, forcing studios to postpone blockbusters rather than releasing projects without actors to promote them, and putting thousands of crew members out of work. It was the first time both unions had been on strike since 1960, and the shock waves rippled out beyond Hollywood. The production shutdown has cost the California economy an estimated $5 billion.
When the writers strike ended September 24, many in the industry assumed the actors would soon follow. SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP restarted talks on October 2—with top executives like Iger and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos in the room—only to quickly hit a wall. On October 11, the AMPTP issued a statement that “conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction.” Sarandos himself told a crowd of Hollywood professionals at the Bloomberg Screentime conference that one of SAG-AFTRA’s proposals—that the streamers pay a set rate per subscriber as a sort of bonus for actors—was “a bridge too far.” SAG-AFTRA leaders disputed the AMPTP’s characterization of the payment as a “levy” on streamers.
Talks resumed in a more intensive way on October 24 against a backdrop of an increasingly panicked Hollywood. “This year is over,” one film and television producer toldVanity Fair earlier this month. A top talent agent was already concerned about 2024: “The way to save the year is by getting the strike resolved before year’s end, because that’ll protect next year to some extent.” Some of the most famous members of SAG-AFTRA—among them George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, and Tyler Perry—reportedly held Zoom meetings with guild leaders to discuss a path to resuming the talks. A group of boldface names even offered to remove the $1 million cap on dues to help pay those lower on the call sheet, a proposal that Drescher later explained would violate federal labor regulations.
After talks resumed, hundreds of SAG-AFTRA members including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Paul Walter Hauser, Timothy Olyphant, and Maya Hawke signed an open letter addressed to the negotiating committee, telling them, “we would rather stay on strike than take a bad deal.”
The talks appeared to pick up steam toward the end of October, and negotiators spent the better part of the pre-Halloween weekend working behind closed doors. On Sunday evening, SAG-AFTRA tweeted that they had “discussed all open proposals, including AI, with the AMPTP,” and asked members to “flood picket lines” to make their voices heard. But talks continued to stretch on as the two sides remained at odds over key issues, particularly around how to protect actors against the use of AI. On Tuesday evening, SAG-AFTRA said that it had sent 10 hours deliberating that day and thanked its members for “your patience and support while we finish our work.”
2nd UPDATE, 10:29 PM– EXCLUSIVE: The actors union and the studios have finally called it a night on their latest talks in search of a new three-year contract.
In the last 30 minutes or so, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP ended a long bargaining session that started this afternoon. The thinking is they will resume negotiations on the 117th day of the strike — tomorrow, November 7. However, at this later hour, no definite time has been set yet for when they will meet again.
Tonight’s meeting was a virtual get together the CEO Gang of Four with joining AMPTP boss Carol Lombardini and SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, among others. Netflix‘s Ted Sarandos, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Disney’s Bob Iger have all been participating in talks directly on and off since the lasted negotiations began on October 24.
“This was a productive session, some work still required before there’s a deal,” a studio insider told Deadline tonight of the gathering that followed the guild’s response to the studios’ so-called “best, last and final offer” last week “There’s still some serious daylight between us, at least as of right now,” he added.
David Zaslav, Ted Sarandos, Donna Langley & Bob Iger
Getty
As has been the case for months, AI remains one of the major issues that divides the guild and the studios. The latter are looking to seal the deal with what one source called “an expanded version of what the WGA agreed to.” The former want project specific protections on scans of performers and re-use of their likenesses. Well-positioned sources on both sides admit that part of the problem they are having is coming up with effective guardrails for a technology that is evolving in leaps and bounds.
1st UPDATE, 4:20 PM: As the back and forth between SAG-AFTRA and the studios continues Monday, an end to the 116-day actors strike may not be imminent.
“There are several essential items on which we still do not have an agreement, including AI,” the guild said in a letter to members in the last hour. “We will keep you informed as events unfold.”
Here’s the full letter:
Dear Member,
This morning our negotiators formally responded to the AMPTP’s “Last, Best & Final” offer.
Please know every member of our TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee is determined to secure the right deal and thereby bring this strike to an end responsibly.
There are several essential items on which we still do not have an agreement, including AI. We will keep you informed as events unfold.
In solidarity and gratitude,
Your TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee
The letter follows the guild delivering their response to the studios’ “last, best & final” offer on a new TV and movie contract earlier in the day. As Deadline reported, the parties are scheduling new negotiations which could begin as soon as this evening.
AI has been one of the primary sticking points between the sides since the beginning of their initial talks in June. Since that time, the technology has evolved so rapidly that there are questions on both sides as to how many protections could actually be put into a new three-year deal.
“It’s not bulletproof, everyone has to recognize that,” a studio executive told Deadline today about any potential AI agreement. With IATSE and Teamsters negotiations coming next year, the exec noted that it’s just a matter of months before studios will be back in deliberations with the likes of the DGA, WGA and SAG-AFTRA on the next three-year contract.
PREVIOUSLY, 2:38 PM: EXCLUSIVE: A deal may not be in the cards tonight, but SAG-AFTRA and the studios could be heading back to negotiations within hours.
The two sides are hoping to speak virtually later today and perhaps into the night, we hear.
As of right now, no meetings have been formally set, according to a guild source, but they are expecting to lock in a time “very soon.”
It is unclear at present whether the CEO Gang of Four — NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley, Warner Bros Discovery’s David Zaslav, Disney’s Bob Iger and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos — will be participating in these new talks, which are said to include guild Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and AMPTP president Carol Lombardini.
That response was “measured,” as a guild member close to talks tells us on this 116th day of the SAG-AFTRA strike. The guild spent most of the weekend “reviewing” the hundreds of pages of the proposal from the studios — a proposal that is a response to SAG-AFTRA’s “comprehensive counter” of late October.
“Everybody knows where everybody stands,” a studio insider told Deadline this afternoon. “Now, it’s about bringing it home, if we can,” he added with some optimism. Despite the ominous tone of the studios’ most recent offer, the tactic never truly excluded having talks between both sides continue into this week.
With “a lot to digest” for the SAG-AFTRA in the studio’s offer, according to one source, details reportedly include the highest wage increases for actors in 40 years. Additionally, there was a 100% uptick in performance compensation bonuses for high-budget streaming series and films in the AMPTP package, which a boatload of CEOs got on a brief Zoom call on November 4 to brief guild brass. Perhaps the crown jewel in the studios’ package is what have been called “full” AI protections. Put together, along with health and pension fund contributions and more, the execs feel their offer went “a long way to what SAG wanted,” per an industry source over the weekend.
Or, as Netflix’s co-CEO Sarandos told SAG-AFTRA leaders on Saturday, “We didn’t just come toward you, we came all the way to you.” If execs thought that was going to get them across the line by now, clearly they were disappointed. One insider on the studio side, expecting a deal Sunday night, informed us they had to pull the plug on a scheduled production that was getting ramped up today.
You’ll remember that it’s tricky for TV and feature productions to shoot, even though the writers strike has ended. SAG-AFTRA pickets were out in full force, shutting down a B-roll shoot with extras of Netflix’s Nicole Kidman limited series The Perfect Couple in Nantucket on September 28. It doesn’t matter where Hollywood is shooting; the guild will keep them in check. The problem with The Perfect Couple was that it was using non-guild members as extras on camera, which was a big no-no for local union actors in Massachusetts.
The combination of the now-resolved WGA strike and the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike is estimated to have cost the California economy over $6.5 billion so far. With guild members united but feeling the financial squeeze, another fallout aspect of the nearly total shutdown of production has been the loss of 45,000 entertainment industry jobs.
If a new deal is reached, the turnaround on how fast actors can go back to work and promote new TV series and films remains in question. Given the size of SAG-AFTRA at 160,000 members, it’s figured that actors’ return to work during a contract ratification period might not be as feasible as it was for the 12,000-strong WGA, whose members returned before a final vote on their new contract.
In that context, SAG-AFTRA members and their allies were out in force in front of studio lots and offices in Los Angeles and New York today, with a near full week of picketing planned as of right now. This week also will see two of the top-tier CEOs facing Wall Street scrutiny as both Warner Bros Discovery and Disney release their latest quarterly earnings and project into the New Year.
The ramifications of the actors strike at the weekend box office continues to be felt, as ticket sales this weekend plummeted to $58.3M, which is currently the third-lowest of 2023. Remember, Legendary/Warner Bros’ Zendaya-Timothee Chalamet-Austin Butler-Florence Pugh sequel Dune: Part Twowas originally set to play this weekend, and with its departure, there’s at least $50M — if not substantially more — missing from the box office.
Legendary opted to move that sequel, based on the Frank Herbert novel, to March 2024, so that the actors could properly promote the sci-fi pic; the first pic’s ticket sales siphoned from a day-and-date theatrical play with streaming service Max.
‘Dune: Part Two’
Warner Bros
After this weekend, the next two lowest at the box office for 2023 to date were Super Bowl weekend (Feb. 10-12) with $52.6M, and Sept. 22-24, which saw $51.8M.
Speaking of day-and-date, the good news with Universal-Peacock’sFive Nights at Freddy‘s is that it cracked past $100M, becoming one of a few titles with such a dynamic distribution model to do so (alongside Black Widow, Dune, Godzilla vs. Kong and Jungle Cruise). The bad news is that the movie’s availability in the home to Peacock paid subs, plus the massive YA leaning nature of the IP, has the videogame movie dropping like a rock at $17.8M in weekend 2, -78%, for a running ten-day total by tomorrow of $112M.Freddy‘s is No. 1, benefiting from the circumstance that there’s no Dune 2.
Can you imagine if we didn’t have the Taylor Swift: Eras Concert Film on the schedule? Her faithful continue to make the movie No. 2, with an $11.9M take in weekend 4 and running total of $164.3M.
While some in distribution think it’s hard to quantify the impact of the actors strike (now in its 114th day) at the box office, its pretty clear that thespians are needed to promote and deliver large halos around tentpoles so that the message is transmitted around the globe that there’s a must-see event.
In certain cases, particularly with horror, and movies like Nun II and Five Nights at Freddy‘s, IP can get a studio by. But brand alone doesn’t sell. You need stars. It can be argued that part of the expected slowdown next weekend with the opening of Disney/Marvel Studios’ The Marvels stems from the studio’s inability to promote the pic properly at Comic-Cons. Even if the strike settles this weekend, it’s not clear whether the pic’s cast will be able to attend the movie’s “fan event” in Las Vegas this coming week. It would not be shocking if we see The Marvels charting one of the lowest openings for a Marvel Studios movie next weekend in November with less than $70M –lower than 2021’s The Eternals ($71.2M)— the movie not only a sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, but also a crossover from the Disney+ series, Ms. Marvel. Presales for The Marvels are pacing behind that of Black Adam and The Flash (those respective openings at $67M and $55M).
Some specialty affair and wide releases from smaller distributors have vied to take advantage of the marketplace this weekend in the lack of competition from a major studio wide release.
‘Priscilla’ starring Jacob Elordi and Callee Spaeney
A24
A24’s critically acclaimed film festival darling Priscilla from Sofia Coppola is seeing around $4.9M in 4th place from its expansion from four NYC and LA theaters last weekend to 1,350 theaters. That’s better than the expanded weekend on Coppola’s The Beguiled from Focus Features back in July 2017 ($3.2M at 674 theaters), almost near topping the entire cume of the filmmaker’s Bling Ring ($5.8M), and almost near the opening weekend (at 859 theaters) of her Marie Antoinette ($5.3M) back in 2006.
No CinemaScore, but Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak audiences gave the Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny movie a 71% positive and 50% recommend. Women attended at 67%, with 61% between 18-34 and the largest demo being the Euphoria Elordi 18-24 fans at 38%. Diversity demos were 48% Caucasian, 33% Latino and Hispanic, 8% Black, and 12% Asian/other. Priscilla played best on the coasts, but was the strongest in the West. AMC Burbank is the pic’s richest in the nation, with a running total of $11K. Yesterday was $1.9M, $450K of that coming from Thursday night previews.
Radical
Mateo London
Lionsgate’s Pantelion has the robust Eugenio Derbez Spanish-language pic Radical, which is posting a very strong theater average of $5,2K from 419 theaters, or $2.2M for the weekend in 5th place after a $780K Friday. The weepy pic, which follows an aspiring teacher who is giving hope to a down on its luck Mexican border town, spurred word of mouth with Latino and Hispanic audiences in its initial Mexico release on Oct. 20, the movie having grossed $5M there. Strong numbers for Radical in Los Angeles, El Paso, Dallas and Houston. Exhibitor Relations firm PaperAirplane handled marketing on this. Derbez has the highest grossing Spanish-language at the domestic box office, Instructions Not Included, from 2013, which grossed $44.4M.
Meg Ryan and David Duchovny in ‘What Happens Later’
Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street has the Meg Ryan directed return to rom-com, and first feature starring role in eight years, What Happens Latterat 1,492 locations, which did an estimated $603K on Friday, for what’s shaping up to be a $1.5M opening weekend in 9th place. A theatrical release will help prop this holiday title, which also stars David Duchovny, on PVOD menus come December, which is where all the money is in these short theatrical window plays. Audiences, like critics (51% on Rotten Tomatoes) aren’t excited about this return to form for Ryan at 43% positive on PostTrak, 25% recommend. Those who bought tickets were women at 70% with the largest demo being those over 55 at 28%. Diversity demos were 57% Caucasian, 13% Hispanic and Latino, 8% Black, and 23% Asian/other. What Happens Later played in the South, Midwest & West. The AMC Lincoln Square in NYC is the pic’s best venue in the nation, with just over $2K.
Daisy Ridley in ‘The Marsh King’s Daughter’
Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions
Outside the top ten, Roadside Attractions has the STX Daisy Ridley-Ben Mendelsohn starring, Neil Burger-directedThe Marsh King’s Daughter, with $851k for the weekend after a $310K Friday at 1,055 theaters. With a $806 theater average off Rotten Tomatoes reviews that are at 39% — nobody’s going.
Top 5 pics:
1.) Five Nights at Freddy’s (Uni) 3,789 (+114) theaters, Fri $5.4M (-86%) 3-day $17.8M (-78%), Total $112M/Wk 2
2.) Taylor Swift: Eras Tour (AMC) 3,604 (-169) theaters, Fri $3.6M (-23%) 3-day $11.9M (-23%)/Total $164.3M/ Wk 4
3.) Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple/Par) 3,786 (+154) theaters Fri $1.94M (-27%) 3-day $6.45M (-31%)/Total $51.7M/Wk 3
More theatrical release date changes due to the actors strike which is clocking 113 days, however, the good news is that it doesn’t impact 2024. Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s live action take of animated movie How to Train Your Dragongoes from March 14, 2025 to Friday, June 13, 2025.
Uni had the latter date already on hold on the calendar.
Any rivals out there, March 14, 2025 is now empty of any wide entries. How to Train Your Dragon‘s new date currently has an untitled Pixar movie on it.
The new live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie is written and directed by 3x Academy Award nominee Dean DeBlois, who has written and directed the entire Dragon trilogy based on the best-selling books series by Cressida Cowell. The live-action film will be produced by 3x Oscar nominee Marc Platt (La La Land, Bridge of Spies), DeBlois and Emmy winner Adam Siegel (2 Guns, Drive). The trio of Dragon movies have grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide and nabbed four Oscar noms and a Golden Globe win for How to Train Your Dragon 2.
How to Train Your Dragon follows a hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons and becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself. The young lad learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed.
The studio also announced that it has an untitled event movie going on Wednesday, July 2, 2025.
There are several untitled holds by major studios across the 2024 calendar. It has yet to be seen if those holds are real or whether they’re just temporary placeholders which will in and of themselves be moved.
A group of high-profile actors have signed a public letter declaring that they would rather stay on strike rather than accept a bad deal.
Thousands of stars including Sarah Paulson, Chelsea Handler, Christian Slater, Sandra Oh, Daveed Diggs, Pedro Pascal and Kal Penn have signed the letter, which is addressed to the SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee.
“Back in June, before we went on strike, a large group of members signed an open letter telling our leaders that we would rather go on strike than take a bad deal. Now, more than 100 days into our strike, that is still true. As hard as this is, we would rather stay on strike than take a bad deal,” the letter opens.
“We have not come all this way to cave now. We have not gone without work, without pay, and walked picket lines for months just to give up on everything we’ve been fighting for. We cannot and will not accept a contract that fails to address the vital and existential problems that we all need fixed,” they added.
Other signatories include Carrie Anne Moss, Christine Baranski, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kristin Chenoweth, Leslie Odom, Jr., Lizzy Caplan, Richard Schiff, Simon Pegg, Timothy Olyphant, Zachary Quinto, Titus Welliver, Simon Helberg, Jon Hamm, Rosanna Arquette, Pamela Adlon, Noah Wyle, Maya Hawke, Margaret Cho, Lena Dunham, Kim Raver, Joshua Jackson, Helen Hunt, David Harewood and Carrie Coon.
The move comes after a separate group of actors including George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Kerry Washington, Tyler Perry, Bradley Cooper, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Aniston, Robert De Niro, Ben Affleck, Laura Dern, Emma Stone, Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Reynolds, and Ariana DeBose made their own offer to help end the strike.
Earlier today, Deadline revealed that SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP agreed to meet again on Friday with sources saying there is “cautious optimism” over talks.
Back in June, before we went on strike, a large group of members signed an open letter telling our leaders that we would rather go on strike than take a bad deal.
Now, more than 100 days into our strike, that is still true. As hard as this is, we would rather stay on strike than take a bad deal.
We have not come all this way to cave now. We have not gone without work, without pay, and walked picket lines for months just to give up on everything we’ve been fighting for. We cannot and will not accept a contract that fails to address the vital and existential problems that we all need fixed.
In any union, there will always be a minority who are not willing to make temporary sacrifices for the greater good. But we, the majority who voted overwhelmingly to authorize this strike, are still standing in solidarity, ready to strike as long as it takes and to endure whatever we must in order to win a deal that is worthy of our collective sacrifice. We know that our union leaders are doing everything in their power to achieve that goal as they negotiate in good faith with the companies to arrive at a new contract that will protect us and our fellow performers, now and for generations to come.
Everything we have as a union – every minimum payment, health and pension benefit, residual, royalty, and workplace protection – it has all been won with the power of our members; the power of our solidarity; the power of standing together as one to demand what is right, what is fair, and what we deserve. You have our trust, our support, and our power behind you now.
One day longer. One day stronger. For as long as it takes.
Halloween in Hollywood may look a little different this year as actors have been instructed not to wear costumes inspired by famous movies and TV series amid the ongoing Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strike. If A-list couples were hoping on being Barbie and Ken this year, looks like they’ll have to change their plans.
SAG-AFTRA released the Halloween guidance in a Wednesday post on their website, providing tips and tricks on how to “make Halloween a scream” with “strike-friendly” costumes.
Strike rules dictate that actors cannot promote content from major studios, who are on the other side of the bargaining table as actors negotiate a new contract. So far, this has played out in stripped-down film festivals and a dearth of promotion for new movies and TV shows.
TIFF to see fewer stars amid Hollywood strikes
Now, with Halloween approaching, actors have been reminded of their union commitments not to promote struck content with their costumes.
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“Let’s use our collective power to send a loud and clear message to our struck employers that we will not promote their content without a fair contract,” the union writes.
SAG-AFTRA recommends that actors dress up in more generic costumes, instead of specific characters. Say, a spider instead of Spider-Man, or a chef instead of Carmy from FX’s The Bear.
Actors are, however, permitted to dress up as characters from animated TV shows and other non-struck content.
A few high-profile movies were given strike exemptions because they were filmed outside the U.S. without affiliation with Hollywood studios, including A24’s Priscilla. So actors would seemingly be able to dress up at Jacob Elordi’s Elvis Presley, though Austin Butler’s rendition of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll from Warner Bros.’ Elvis is off the table.
There are some grey areas: Hit summer blockbuster Barbie is sure to inspire tons of costumes this Halloween, and while Barbie is back in the public eye because of the Warner Bros. film, she is first and foremost a creation by toy company Mattel.
Would actors be able to dress up as a Barbie, so long as the costume wasn’t inspired by the 2023 movie? The answer is unclear, though actors probably don’t want to wade into those muddy waters and find out.
Wednesday Addams is sure to be another popular costume this year off the success of Netflix’s Wednesday, though the character first appeared in a series of one-panel comics for The New Yorker.
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Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds weighed in on the costume rules with a post on X, formerly Twitter, writing that he looks forward to “screaming ‘scab’ at my 8 year old all night.”
“She’s not in the union but she needs to learn,” he added.
While the Hollywood writers’ strike has come to an end, the actors’ strike is still ongoing and will reach its 100th day on Saturday.
Hopes were high and leaders of the union were cautiously optimistic when they resumed negotiations on Oct. 2 for the first time since the strike began two-and-a-half months earlier.
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The same group of chief executives from the biggest studios had made a major deal just over a week earlier with striking writers, whose leaders celebrated their gains on many issues actors are also fighting for: long-term pay, consistency of employment and control over the use of artificial intelligence.
But the actors’ talks were tepid, with days off between sessions and no reports of progress. Then studios abruptly ended them on Oct. 11, saying the actors’ demands were exorbitantly expensive and the two sides were too far apart to continue.
While screenwriters are busy back at work, film and TV actors remain on picket lines, with the longest strike in their history set to hit 100 days on Saturday after talks broke off with studios. Here’s a look at where things stand, how their stretched-out standoff compares to past strikes, and what happens next.
Inside the actors-studio talks that failed
Hopes were high and leaders of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were cautiously optimistic when they resumed negotiations on Oct. 2 for the first time since the strike began 2 1/2 months earlier.
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The same group of chief executives from the biggest studios had made a major deal just over a week earlier with striking writers, whose leaders celebrated their gains on many issues actors are also fighting for: long-term pay, consistency of employment and control over the use of artificial intelligence.
But the actors’ talks were tepid, with days off between sessions and no reports of progress. Then studios abruptly ended them on Oct. 11, saying the actors’ demands were exorbitantly expensive and the two sides were too far apart to continue.
“We only met with them a couple of times, Monday, half a day Wednesday, half a day Friday. That was what they were available for,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher told The Associated Press soon after the talks broke off. “Then this past week, it was Monday and a half a day on Wednesday. And then “Bye bye. I’ve never really met people that actually don’t understand what negotiations mean. Why are you walking away from the table?”
Writers Guild and Hollywood studios reach tentative deal to end strike
The studios said the SAG-AFTRA proposals would cost them an untenable $800 million annually. The union said that number was a 60% overestimate.
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Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, one of the executives in on the bargaining sessions, said that at the session that spurred the studios to walk away, the union had asked for a “a subscriber levy unrelated to viewing or success” on every subscriber to streaming services.
“This really broke our momentum unfortunately,” Sarandos told investors on a Netflix earnings call Wednesday.
SAG-AFTRA leaders said it was ridiculous to frame this demand as as though it were a tax on customers, and said it was the executives themselves who wanted to shift from a model based on a show’s popularity to one based on number of subscribers.
“We made big moves in their direction that have just been ignored and not responded to,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator, told the AP. “We made changes to our AI proposal. We made dramatic changes to what used to be our streaming revenue share proposal,” Crabtree-Ireland said.
What happens next in the actors strike?
The actors are in unscripted territory, with no end in sight. Their union has never been on a strike this long, nor been on strike at all since before many of its members were born. Not even its veteran leaders, like Crabtree-Ireland, with the union for 20 years, have found themselves in quite these circumstances.
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As they did for months before the talks broke off, members and leaders will rally, picket and speak out publicly until the studios signal a willingness to talk again. No one knows how long that will take. SAG-AFTRA says it is willing to resume at any time, but that won’t change its demands.
“I think that they think that we’re going to cower,” Drescher said. “But that’s never going to happen because this is a crossroads and we must stay on course.”
The studio alliance said in a statement after the talks broke off that they had made generous-but-rejected offers in every disputed area. “We hope that SAG-AFTRA will reconsider and return to productive negotiations soon,” the statement said.
The writers did have their own false start with studios that may give some reason for optimism. Their union attempted to restart negotiations with studios in mid-August, more than three months into their strike. Those talks went nowhere, breaking off after a few days. A month later, the studio alliance came calling again. Those talks took off, with most of their demands being met after five marathon days that resulted in a tentative deal that its members would vote to approve almost unanimously.
How did previous actors strikes play out?
Hollywood actors strikes have been less frequent and shorter than those by writers. The Screen Actors Guild (they added the “AFTRA” in a 2011 merger) has gone on strike against film and TV studios only three times in its history.
In each case, emerging technology fueled the dispute. In 1960 — the only previous time actors and writers struck simultaneously — the central issue was actors seeking pay for when their work in film was aired on television, compensation the industry calls residuals. The union, headed by future U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was a smaller and much less formal entity then. The vote to strike took place in the home of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, the parents of current SAG-AFTRA member and vocal striker Jamie Lee Curtis.
Mid-strike, the actors and studios called a truce so all could attend the Academy Awards — a move forbidden under today’s union rules. Host Bob Hope called the gathering “Hollywood’s most glamorous strike meeting.”
In the end, a compromise was reached where SAG dropped demands for residuals from past films in exchange for a donation to their pension fund, along with a formula for payment when future films aired on TV. Their 42-day work stoppage began and ended all within the span of the much longer writers strike.
U.S. actors join writers on the picket lines
A 1980 strike would be the actors’ longest for film and television until this year. That time, they were seeking payment for their work appearing on home video cassettes and cable TV, along with significant hikes in minimum compensation for roles. A tentative deal was reached with significant gains but major compromises in both areas. Union leadership declared the strike over after 67 days, but many members were unhappy and balked at returning to work. It was nearly a month before leaders could rally enough votes to ratify the deal.
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This time, it was the Emmy Awards that fell in the middle of the strike. The Television Academy held a ceremony, but after a boycott was called, only one acting winner, Powers Boothe, was there to accept his trophy.
Other segments of the actors union have gone on strike too, including several long standoffs over the TV commercials contract. A 2016-2017 strike by the union’s video game voice actors lasted a whopping 11 months. That segment of the union could strike again soon if a new contract deal isn’t reached.
What’s happening to movies and TV shows?
The return of writers has gotten the Hollywood production machine churning again, with rooms full of scribes penning new seasons of shows that had been suspended and film writers finishing scripts. But the finished product will await the end of actors strike, and production will remain suspended many TV shows and dozens of films, including “Wicked,” “Deadpool 3” and “Mission Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 2.”
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The Emmys, whose nominations were announced the same day the actors strike was called, opted to wait for the stars this time and move their ceremony from September to January, though that date could be threatened too.
The Oscars are a long way off in March, but the campaigns to win them are usually well underway by now. With some exceptions _ non-studio productions approved by the union — performers are prohibited from promoting their films at press junkets or on red carpets. Director Martin Scorsese has been giving interviews about his new Oscar contender “ Killers of the Flower Moon.” Star and SAG-AFTRA member Leonardo DiCaprio hasn’t.
Talks bitterly broke off between Hollywood actors and studios late Wednesday, killing any hopes that the three-month strike by performers would come to an end anytime soon.
The studios announced that they had suspended contract negotiations, saying the gap between the two sides was too great to make continuing worth it, despite an offer they said was as good as the one that recently ended the writers strike. The actors union decried their opponents’ “bullying tactics” and said they were wildly mischaracterizing their offers.
“We made big moves in their direction that have just been ignored and not responded to,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the national executive director and chief negotiator for the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists had resumed negotiations, told The Associated Press on a Los Angeles picket line Thursday. “We’re not going to find a solution to this if they just leave and don’t talk to us.”
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On Oct. 2, for the first time since the strike began July 14, SAG-AFTRA had resumed negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, streaming services and production companies in strike talks.
When negotiations resumed with writers last month, their strike ended five days later, but similar progress was not made with the actors union.
Hollywood writers, studios reach tentative deal to end strike
The studios walked away from talks after seeing the actors’ most recent proposal on Wednesday.
“It is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction,” the AMPTP said in a statement.
The SAG-AFTRA proposal would cost companies an additional $800 million a year and create “an untenable economic burden,” the statement said.
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In a letter to members sent early Thursday, SAG-AFTRA said that figure was overestimated by 60%.
“We went into those rooms with our own open mind and a goal of establishing a dialogue with those CEOs. We were very happy they were there because here are ultimate decision-makers who have the power to say yes,” Crabtree-Ireland said. “We gave them a full set of counterproposals yesterday. We made changes to our AI proposal. We made dramatic changes to what used to be our streaming revenue share proposal. We took it out of revenue share completely at their insistence.”
The union said its negotiators were “profoundly disappointed” the studios had broken off talks.
“We have negotiated with them in good faith,” the letter read, “despite the fact that last week they presented an offer that was, shockingly, worth less than they proposed before the strike began.”
SAG-AFTRA strike: Thousands take part in protest march in Los Angeles
Actors have been on strike over issues including increases in pay for streaming programming and control of the use of their images generated by artificial intelligence.
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The AMPTP insisted its offers had been as generous as the deals that brought an end to the writers strike and brought a new contract to the directors guild earlier this year.
But the union letter to actors said the 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.”
“There is a laundry list of gaslighting that’s going on in the way this is being communicated by them,” Crabtree-Ireland said. “It’s not how you treat someone with respect in negotiations. It’s pressure tactics and bullying.”
Actors and writers showed up to picket outside of the Netflix offices on Thursday. They were joined by Crabtree-Ireland and other SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee members who shared words of encouragement and resilience with their fellow union members.
“We’re all sticking together,” said Cisco Reyes, a member since 1999, outside Netflix. “Our negotiators are not just settling for less.”
‘We are the victims here’: SAG-AFTRA president says as Hollywood actors go on strike
Individuals on the picket lines still remained hopeful that they will win and reach a future agreement with the AMPTP.
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“There’s a little bit of anger, there’s a little bit of frustration, but there’s a lot of hope coming out here at the picket line,” actor Romel De Silva, a member since 2012, said Thursday outside Paramount Studios. “It’s important for us to be out here every single day and show them that we’re not backing down.”
From the start, the actors talks had nothing like the momentum that spurred marathon night-and-weekend sessions in the writers strike and brought that work stoppage to an end. Actors and studios had taken several days off after resuming, and there were no reports of meaningful progress despite direct involvement from the heads of studios including Disney and Netflix as there had been in the writers strike.
The writers did have their own false start in negotiations, however. A month before the successful talks, the initial attempt to restart ended after just a few days.
Members of the Writers Guild of America voted almost unanimously to ratify their new contract on Monday. WGA leaders touted their deal as achieving most of what they had sought when they went on strike nearly five months earlier. They declared their strike over, and sent writers back to work, on Sept. 26.
Hollywood strike: Actors Susan Sarandon, Sean Astin join writers on picket lines
Some WGA members went back to the picket lines Thursday in solidarity with the actors, including Tommy Pico, a member since 2020 who remembered the support from actors when writers went on strike first. Pico said that the AMPTP could put an end to the strike “right now.”
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“They absolutely have the ability, they have the means, they have the opportunity and they are not,” Pico said. “I feel like it’s a power move.”
Late-night talk shows have returned to the air, and other shows including “Saturday Night Live” will soon follow. But with no actors, production on scripted shows and movies will stay on pause indefinitely.
“Whatever differences we have are only going to get resolved by talking to each other,” Crabtree-Ireland said. “We’re ready. We’re at the table. All they have to do is come back.”
The National Book Foundation rescinded their offer to Barrymore, 48, on Tuesday, one day after The Drew Barrymore Show began filming its fourth season.
“The National Book Awards is an evening dedicated to celebrating the power of literature, and the incomparable contributions of writers to our culture,” the foundation wrote in a statement. “In light of the announcement that ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ will resume production, the National Book Foundation has rescinded Ms. Barrymore’s invitation to host the 74th National Book Awards Ceremony.”
“Our commitment is to ensure that the focus of the Awards remains on celebrating writers and books, and we are grateful to Ms. Barrymore and her team for their understanding in this situation.”
Barrymore has not commented publicly on her ousting as host.
High-ranking members of the National Book Foundation have previously applauded Barrymore for promoting and discussing books on her talk show.
Resuming production of ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’
The Drew Barrymore Showbegan taping new episodes at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City this week, despite little sign of resolution in the ongoing writers’ strike.
As a result, episodes of the talk show filmed during the strike will not employ any writers who belong to the Writers Guild of America (WGA).
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Barrymore earlier said that she personally owns the decision to resume production.
“We are in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind,” the 50 First Dates actor defended in a statement released Sunday.
The decision angered members and supporters of the WGA, several of whom protested outside the CBS Broadcast Center during Monday’s filming. Numerous striking staff writers from The Drew Barrymore were in attendance and carried picket signs while they chanted, “We don’t get it. Shut it down!”
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“The only people I know for sure that are not going back are us three WGA writers. And the rest, I can’t really speak for,” Chelsea White, one of the show’s writers, told NPR at the picket line. “I think first and foremost, this is obviously way bigger than just The Drew Barrymore Show and writers. We are out here standing with our union and feeling great and excited always to stand with our union.”
Writers Guild of America, East said any writing currently being done on The Drew Barrymore Show is in violation of the WGA strike.
The @DrewBarrymoreTV Show is a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers. The Guild has, and will continue to, picket struck shows that are in production during the strike. Any writing on “The Drew Barrymore Show” is in violation of WGA strike rules.
Since production of the talk show has continued anyway, many WGA members and supporters have questioned whether Barrymore is a “scab” or will employ “scab writers” in place of union members. (A scab is someone who crosses picket lines to work in place of a striking employee.)
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“Sooo who is writing her opening monologue and literally everything else on this show when it starts up again next week? Scab writers?!” actor Felicia Day questioned. “Ughhhh gross Drew Barrymore. Gross.”
Sooo who is writing her opening monologue and literally everything else on this show when it starts up again next week? Scab writers?! Ughhhh gross Drew Barrymore. Gross. https://t.co/Li1hthpUm7
It is not yet clear who will be writing on The Drew Barrymore Show during the strike. Most episodes typically employed at least three writers.
Barrymore’s work as host of the talk show is not in violation of any strike rules. According to Variety, actors on CBS’ The Drew Barrymore Show are covered by a different SAG-AFTRA contract than the one currently in dispute.
The National Book Awards ceremony will take place on Nov. 15 in New York City. Since 1950, the organization has given honours to writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young people’s literature and translated literature.
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New episodes of The Drew Barrymore Show are expected to air starting Sept. 18.
The Drew Barrymore Show is not the only production making the choice to return despite ongoing strikes. Warner Bros. Television’s The Jennifer Hudson Show and CBS’s The Talk are also set to return to production in the coming weeks. These productions will also continue without employing WGA writers.
In addition to solving its scheduling woes, The Golden Bachelormay be just the refresh the creatively flailing franchise needs. The new series follows the departure of longtime creator Mike Fleiss and is already showing promise, according to Disney’s top unscripted-TV executive, Rob Mills. “It’s such a different way of doing The Bachelor because these people are just at a totally different place in their lives,” he previously told Variety. “There is an interesting thing about people who have hit the other end of the spectrum, who’ve lived their lives, they’ve raised their kids; some have been widowed or divorced, and maybe some have never been in love. We thought that would be an interesting dynamic through the Bachelor prism.”
Who are the contestants on The Golden Bachelor?
At the end of August ABC unveiled the cast photos and bios for all 22 contestants on The Golden Bachelor. They range from age 60 to 75 and share a diverse range of pasts, perspectives, and, apparently, pickleball habits, as showcased in a trailer set to Cher’s “Believe.” And these women boast traits that have never been seen on a Bachelor bio. Take Christina, whose first concert was the Beatles in 1964; Marina, who has three master’s degrees; or Kathy, whose grandchildren call her “Kiki.” There’s even a familiar face in the bunch—Patty, the mother of Matt James, Bachelor Nation’s first Black lead who is still dating his final pick, Rachael Kirkconnell.
The full list of contestants is below: Anna, 61, a retired nutritionist from Summit, N.J. April, 65, a therapist from Port St. Lucie, Fla. Christina, 73, a retired purchasing manager from Sierra Madre, Calif. Edith, 60, a retired realtor from Downey, Calif. Ellen, 71, a retired teacher from Delray Beach Fla. Faith, 60, a high school teacher from Benton City, Wash. Jeanie, 65, a retired project manager from Estill Springs, Tenn. Joan, 60, a private school administrator from Rockland, Md. Kathy, 70, a retired educational consultant from Austin, Texas Leslie, 64, a fitness instructor from Minneapolis, Minn. Maria, 60, a health and wellness director from Teaneck, N.J. Marina, 60, an educator from Los Angeles, Calif. Nancy, 60, a retired interior designer from Alexandria, Va. Natascha, 60, a pro-aging coach and midlife speaker from New York City, N.Y. Pamela, 75, a retired salon owner from Aurora, Ill. Patty, 70, a retired real estate professional from Durham, N.C. Peggy, 69, a dental hygienist from East Haven, Conn. Renee, 67, a former Chicago Honey Bear Cheerleader from Middleton, Wis. Sandra, 75, a retired executive assistant from Doraville, Ga. Susan, 66, a wedding officiant from Aston, Penn. Sylvia, 64, a public affairs consultant from Los Angeles, Calif. Theresa, 69, a financial services professional from Shrewsbury, N.J.
A hotly anticipated meeting Friday between the Writers Guild of America and negotiators for Hollywood’s biggest studios ended not with a bang but with a whimper, it appears, as both sides confirm that the three-month-long standoff between screenwriters and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is set to continue, as will the strike that’s left the entertainment industry at a standstill.
Friday’s meeting, the first between the WGA and the AMPTP since contract negotiations stalled in May, had been greeted with high hopes when it was announced earlier this week. The New York Times reported that conditions for an end to the writers’ strike seemed promising, as a back-channel meeting last week between a “handful of executives” and “three members of the guild’s negotiating committee” led execs to believe that “there could be a path to a deal.”
Following that shadowy meeting, AMPTP president Carol Lombardini reached out to WGA leaders to schedule Friday’s official confab, but even as that news broke, the WGA remained cautious. In a message to members Thursday, the WGA’s negotiating committee said that “we won’t prejudge what’s to come, but playbooks die hard. So far, the companies have wasted months on their same failed strategy. They have attempted, time and time again, through anonymous quotes in the media, to use scare tactics, rumors, and lies to weaken our resolve.”
Variety reports that the two sides met Friday for about an hour, but that after the WGA stood firm on its expectations regarding “minimum staffing levels in episodic TV and a guaranteed minimum number of weeks of employment,” the conversation fizzled.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the WGA says that while the AMPTP “is willing to increase their offer on a few writer-specific TV minimums—and [is] willing to talk about AI,” they “did not indicate willingness” to discuss other issues that have been at stake, including success-based residual payments and other points. (The AMPTP has not issued an official statement on the meeting as of publication time.)
Despite the lack of movement, LA Mayor Karen Bass, who issued a statement Friday offering to “personally engage” with both sides to bring the strike to an end, described the news coming out of the meeting as “an encouraging development,” the LA Times reports. “It is critical that this gets resolved immediately so that Los Angeles gets back on track,” Bass said.
An unnamed studio-side source who spoke with the Hollywood Reporter says that though little progress was made during the meeting, they believe the door has been opened to further conversations. “I anticipate we’ll be back at the table in a week, but we’re not there yet on either side,” they said.
But even if the two sides did reach an agreement at that next, still speculative meeting, that doesn’t mean that Hollywood productions would immediately resume. After all, the concurrent SAG-AFTRA strike, which kicked off last month, means that actors have also stopped work, and conversations between those groups have also stalled. “We have not heard from the AMPTP since July 12 when they told us they would not be willing to continue talks for quite some time,” National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Irelandtold Deadline this week.
Not only does the ongoing actors strike means that the work in front of the camera isn’t happening, but as an act of union solidarity, writers will not cross the SAG-AFTRA picket line to return to work, even if a deal is reached, Variety reports. That means that until both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA come to agreements with the AMPTP, Hollywood will remain closed for business.
The ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike in which actors lobby for a fair contract with the studios has halted nearly all productions and, per the rules of the strike, prevented any major film deals of any kind from officially being made. Perhaps, then, it’s the snoozy current landscape that’s led to rampant online rumors about the upcoming Fantastic Four cast.
For the last several days, there’s been a deluge of unfounded Fantastic Four frontrunners littering the internet—from The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach to former Doctor WhoMatt Smith. Steady speculation that Jack Quaid was in the running to play Johnny Storm/Human Torch even led the actor to set the record straight. “Hello everyone. Nope. Not playing Johnny Storm but hey I’m flattered,” he tweeted on Thursday. “Now that you’re here though, donate to the @sagaftra foundation if you can!” he added along with a link to the donation page.
Yesterday, it was reported that The Crown star Vanessa Kirby and Stranger Thingsbreakout Joseph Quinn had been tapped to play Sue and Johnny Storm, respectively, in Marvel’s Fantastic Four movie, according to sources of entertainment reporter Jeff Sneider. Sue, or The Invisible Woman, was previously played by Kate Mara in 2015’s Fantastic Four and Jessica Alba in the 2005 version, while Michael B. Jordan and Chris Evans played Johnny Storm across those two iterations.
Sneider further reports that Smith was in contention to play Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, a role occupied by Miles Teller in 2015 and Ioan Gruffudd a decade prior, but his sources now “don’t expect that deal to work out.” Director Matt Shakman (WandaVision) and producer Kevin Feige are reportedly “awaiting a new draft of the script” from screenwriter Josh Friedman (Avatar: The Way of Water, at which point they may “reapproach Adam Driver” about the part. (Dev Patel has also been floated as a shortlist possibility, says film reporter Grace Randolph.)
The rumor mill has been less focused on the fourth superhero, Ben Grimm, a.k.a. the Thing. The rock-like character was previously played by Jamie Bell in the 2015 reboot and Michael Chiklis in the 2005 version.
It appears that once every decade, all corners of the film fandom will convene to speculate about a new era of Fantastic Four. Marvel’s take on the superpowered family is currently slated for May 2, 2025 as part of phase six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
