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Tag: sag strike 2023

  • Was This Strike-Struck Awards Season Hollywood’s Weirdest Ever?

    Was This Strike-Struck Awards Season Hollywood’s Weirdest Ever?

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    When Poor Things received an eight-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival in September, only Yorgos Lanthimos was there to bask in it. The director’s cast, of course, had joined the 160,000 SAG-AFTRA members on strike. Lanthimos later lamented that it was “a real shame” that his star Emma Stone couldn’t be by his side, and much of Hollywood likely felt his pain. But at least Lanthimos got to hear the applause. Bradley Cooper, whose Maestro premiered the next day, was unable to promote the film he cowrote, directed, and stars in. Instead, the film’s makeup artist, casting director, editor, and sound mixer, among others, stepped up to handle the press conference.

    That’s how it was for much of this awards season, after SAG-AFTRA imposed stringent rules on its members when the strike began in mid-July. No red carpets. No interviews. No promo, period. Even more than the writers strike, the 118-day actors walkout sent Hollywood’s awards machine into a tailspin, particularly as the Oscars gauntlet loomed. “It definitely threw a wrench in this season in terms of planning,” says a talent publicist. And awards movies, to put it mildly, are rarely big studio blockbusters: They’re often the kind of passion projects that need publicity most.

    Everyone in the industry is well aware of the chaos: The Governors Awards, usually held in November, were pushed into January and will take place six days before the strike-delayed Emmy Awards. The Academy Museum Gala, postponed following the beginning of the conflict in Gaza, was rescheduled for December. Until the strike was resolved on November 9, the phalanx of awards season marketing and publicity specialists were forced to embrace uncertainty. “We’re lighting the white sage,” one veteran awards strategist deadpanned about how he was handling the unusual start of the season.

    Cannes, contending with just the writers strike back in May, managed to be star-studded, with the casts of Killers of the Flower Moon and May December helping to launch both films. But the wattage was turned down considerably in Venice, Telluride, and Toronto, where festival organizers had to scramble after the actors went on strike and several movies pushed their premiere dates into next year. Another awards publicist calls the early days of the strike “uncertain and confusing,” adding, “We didn’t know if the fall festivals would march forward or fall apart.”

    The film festivals did soldier on—and a handful of stars were able to show up thanks to guild-issued interim agreements, but the celebrations were muted. In Venice, Jessica Chastain admitted to being “incredibly nervous” to be there. Adam Driver called his appearance for Ferrari’s premiere “a visual representation of a movie” made for a studio—Neon—willing to meet the union’s demands. Jury president Damien Chazelle showed up to his press conference in a “Writers Guild on Strike!” T-shirt. “To have three films in Venice and not be able to go broke my heart,” Poor Things star Willem Dafoe told Vanity Fair after he’d canceled nearly all plans to promote his upcoming work. The guild allowed him to attend Toronto in support of Patricia Arquette’s directorial feature debut, Gonzo Girl, but he was frank about the fact that he was pining for Venice: “I live in Italy and it’s exciting to see friends, it’s exciting to dress up.”

    Spotting a famous face at premieres became like a game of Where’s Waldo. Stone purchased her own pass to Telluride and rode the charter flight from Los Angeles to get to the festival, where Poor Things had its North American premiere. She later participated in a New York Film Festival panel for the Lanthimos short Bleat, which was granted an interim agreement. Cooper also popped up at the festival’s screening of Maestro, having been granted permission from his guild to simply sit in the audience.

    SAG-AFTRA’s interim agreements created vastly different experiences for movies in the race. A24 was able to move forward with promotion for contenders like Past Lives and Priscilla, and on the day the strike-ending deal was announced, stars Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White were attending the Dallas premiere of A24’s Texas-set wrestling drama The Iron Claw. Meanwhile 20th Century Studios, owned by Disney, decided to postpone Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders once it became clear that Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, and other stars wouldn’t be able to properly promote the film ahead of its scheduled December 1 release. It joined Dune: Part Two and Challengers as awards hopefuls now waiting for next year.

    But amid all that confusion, some new awards season celebrities emerged. Sandra Hüller—the German star of two international contenders, The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall, which are exempt from SAG rules—rocketed into the best actress conversation after the latter film premiered at Telluride. “I’m very aware of the fact that it’s a special situation, and I’m not sure if I would’ve had that attention, if everybody would’ve been able to come,” she told VF after the fest. “And I hope very much that people really love the film for what it is, and not only because of our presence. That would be something that I wouldn’t enjoy so much.”

    Craftspeople invariably get less attention during Oscars season, but they also stepped into the spotlight, doing interviews and Q&As and walking red carpets. “The strike really challenged everyone to be more creative utilizing these artisans, as well as filmmakers, in new ways,” says Tom Piechura, who oversees entertainment marketing at 42West.

    Actors may have rushed back onto red carpets the minute the strike ended in November, but even a flurry of interviews won’t make up for the time lost over the summer. As the veteran awards publicist notes, the uncertainty about when the work stoppage would end caused many studios to pull back on their campaigns, and now there’s no going back: “It’s a mess.” But the second awards publicist isn’t convinced that six chaotic months of strikes will really impact the final vote: “Despite all the work and campaigning and the razzle-dazzle that comes with that, it really comes down to seeing the movie.”

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    Natalie Jarvey

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  • Jane Fonda Honors America Ferrera—And Does the ‘Barbie’ Speech

    Jane Fonda Honors America Ferrera—And Does the ‘Barbie’ Speech

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    America Ferrera hasn’t yet come face-to-face with any of the women who have memorized her stirring Barbie speech about the complexity of modern femininity—but she expects that such encounters are coming.

    “I’ve seen lots of videos online of people learning the monologue and doing the monologue,” Ferrera told Vanity Fair at the Women in Film Honors gala on Thursday, where she received the Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award. “The only person I’ve heard do it verbatim was Ariana Greenblatt, the actress who played my daughter. She had heard it so many times by the end of filming it that she repeated it back to me—and it actually made me cry!”

    Ferrera may not have expected that before the night was over she’d witness Fonda herself recite a few choice snippets from that zeitgeist-tapping monologue written by Greta Gerwig, as the icon presented Ferrera with her namesake award.

    Alluding to Ferrera’s breakout role in Real Women Have Curves, Fonda also proclaimed that “real women stand up and speak for what’s right, even when it makes the powers that be—usually men—uncomfortable, maybe especially when it makes the powers that be uncomfortable. She’s there for climate change, for women’s rights, reproductive rights, democracy, voting rights, immigrant rights, and always human rights. I’ve never been happier to say the words on a stage: I love America!”

    Female empowerment was downright palpable in Hollywood’s Ray Dolby Ballroom during WIF’s 50th annual celebration, a sensation Ferrera’s gotten increasingly used to.

    “It has been amazing to sit back and watch Barbie land in the culture, not just here but globally. And to see what it means to women to be celebrated, and to talk about some hard realities but through joy and through the color pink, and intelligent storytelling that is about women and by women. But it’s for everybody,” she said. “The incredible success of Barbie and the genius of Greta and Margot [Robbie] is a win for all of us. It’s a win for the argument that we have to make all the time: that women storytellers should be empowered and given creative power to tell stories the way that they want to tell stories, and that it’s enough for women to tell stories about women for women the way that men have told stories about men for men.”

    Flamin’ Hot director Eva Longoria, who shared the Crystal Award for Advocacy with screenwriter Linda Yvette Chávez, told Vanity Fair that she views her behind-the-camera success less as a victory lap and more as a way to tell more stories about the underrepresented Latino community.

    “I think I’ve always had confidence and I’ve always believed in my talent. But to have the opportunity to aggregate the team that I did and the actors that I did for this story, that was the magic,” said Longoria. “We have a very important job in Hollywood: Hollywood defines what heroes look like. And they never look like us in the Latino community. So to be able to put a hero up on screen that looked like my dad and sounded like my uncle, that’s important for our culture.”

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    Scott Huver

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  • Hail to the Chief: Fran Drescher Takes Her Post-Strike Victory Lap

    Hail to the Chief: Fran Drescher Takes Her Post-Strike Victory Lap

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    “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!

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    Joy Press

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  • “Let’s Get Back to Work”: Zac Efron, Quinta Brunson and More Celebrate the End of the Actors’ Strike

    “Let’s Get Back to Work”: Zac Efron, Quinta Brunson and More Celebrate the End of the Actors’ Strike

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    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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    Savannah Walsh

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  • The Actors Strike Is Over, Ending Hollywood’s Long Limbo

    The Actors Strike Is Over, Ending Hollywood’s Long Limbo

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    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 told Vanity 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.”

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    Joy Press, Natalie Jarvey

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  • The AI Issue in the SAG-AFTRA Strike May Have Finally Been Resolved

    The AI Issue in the SAG-AFTRA Strike May Have Finally Been Resolved

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    On November 1, when optimism in Hollywood still ran high that the studios and the Actors Guild might finally come to an agreement, The Ankler’s “Strikegeist” newsletter ran with this headline: “AI Proves Knotty but Deal Still Possible This Week.” One full week of negotiations later, AI is still reportedly what’s getting in the way. On Monday afternoon, the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee sent a message to their members saying that they had responded to what the AMPTP had called their “last, best, and final offer,” noting that “there are several essential items on which we still do not have an agreement, including AI.” But on Tuesday afternoon, Variety reported that the studios had adjusted the AI language in their most recent offer, and that with talks resuming on Tuesday, there was hope that the concession might be enough to end the strike. 

    According to multiple sources who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, the disagreement comes down to AI scans of higher paid performers—those who earn more than the guild minimum—and securing permission as well as compensation for those scans to be reused. The current AMPTP proposal, according to THR, would allow the studios to reuse scans of dead actors without the permission of their estates or of SAG-AFTRA.

    One union-side source who spoke to THR suggested this might be enough to convince higher-paid actors to stay in the fight: “They have to realize that this is about protecting them. This is their strike now when they realize what’s on the line.” At least one high-profile actor—Jeffrey Wright, in the Oscar mix this year for American Fiction—seemed to agree:

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    As a still-growing technology that’s not yet fully understood, AI has come up often as a major point of contention for actors on strike. In a recent interview, Succession’s Sarah Snook said that she hopes SAG-AFTRA can set a precedent for other industries, and continued, “Imagine a company owning your image, your voice, creating propaganda. There are no words to describe how important this is right now to attend to.”

    AI was a major sticking point in the WGA strike negotiations as well, but its use for writers is significantly different than for actors. The eventual deal stipulated that AI cannot be used to rewrite scripts, and that writers cannot be required to use the technology for their work. An AI script, however, is a very different thing than a digital resurrection of a dead celebrity—possibly one of many reasons there’s still no deal yet.

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    Katey Rich

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  • Actors’ Union Mulls’ Last, Best And Final Offer’ As Strike Now In 114th Day

    Actors’ Union Mulls’ Last, Best And Final Offer’ As Strike Now In 114th Day

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    The negotiating committee for the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is reportedly meeting today, for a conversation that could have far-reaching implications for the next year of entertainment. According to the actors’ union, which has been on strike since July 14, they’re considering a proposal from Hollywood’s major streamers and studios that the group says is its “last, best, and final offer.” If the actors accept it, the strike might end soon—and if they reject it, negotiations might end for the rest of the year.

    The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) presented the deal to the actors on Saturday, in a negotiating session that was attended virtually by “the heads of the major studios,” CNN reports. Details of the offer have not been disclosed, but outlets like Deadline suggest that many of the sticking points remain around the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) especially when it comes to the likenesses and the replacement of human extras with digital ones.

    The actors’ union is reviewing the studios’ offer and is “considering our response within the context of the critical issues addressed in our proposals,” they said in a message sent to members Saturday afternoon. The SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee is expected to meet today to discuss the terms, the Hollywood Reporter writes, with a decision to come after that.

    The “last, best, and final” phrasing is a common one in negotiations, intended to express that the side that employs it will not offer any future concessions. But as of last week, thousands upon thousands of SAG-AFTRA members have signed an open letter saying “We would rather stay on strike than take a bad deal,” which suggests that the actors are unwilling to concede.

    Unnamed “top executives” who spoke with THR say that negotiations would likely end “for the time being — or likely until the new year” if the actors turn down this offer. But if that happens, the studios stand to lose, too: plans for the 2024 TV and film schedule could combust.

    But even if SAG-AFTRA leadership agrees to the deal, the strike won’t be over quite yet. First, its 160,000+ members must vote to ratify the new three-year contract. Given the tone of that open letter, it seems possible that many of the striking actors might balk if they don’t get what they seek.

    “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,” the letter reads. “We cannot and will not accept a contract that fails to address the vital and existential problems that we all need fixed.”

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    Eve Batey

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  • Ryan Reynolds, Mandy Moore Call Out SAG-AFTRA For Halloween Costume Ban

    Ryan Reynolds, Mandy Moore Call Out SAG-AFTRA For Halloween Costume Ban

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    Since July 14, Hollywood’s striking actors have stood in solidarity as its union pushed through contract negotiations with major studios and streamers. A crack in that unity appeared this weekend, but it wasn’t caused by any maneuvers by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Instead, actors openly mocked the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) after it offered guidance on what Halloween costumes its members should wear. The response was fast, and furious.

    Of course, that’s meant only figuratively, as dressing up like any member of the Toretto family would violate the rules. According to SAG-AFTRA strike guidance released Wednesday, members should dress up as “characters from non-struck content” or as “generalized characters and figures (ghost, zombie, spider, etc).” Therefore, as struck studio Universal Pictures owns The Fast and Furious universe, Dom’s greasy tank and dirty work pants are off the table.

    While the strike’s other rules around promotions of struck material and the like have been supported by all but its loosest-lipped members, this guidance apparently went too far. Melissa Gilbert, the longtime actor who led the union from 2001-2005, was the first to speak out. 

    “THIS is what you guys come up with?” Gilbert asked in an Instagram post. “Literally, no one cares what anyone wears for Halloween.”

    “I mean, do you really think this kind of infantile stuff is going to end the strike? We look like a joke. Please tell me you’re going to make this rule go away… and go negotiate!

    Tagging current SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher twice, Gilbert continued. “For the love of God, people are suffering mightily, and this is what you have to say… c’mon guys…This is the kind of silly bullshit that keeps us on strike. ‘Let’s enact a policy that makes us look petty and incompetent at the same time.’”

    Giving lie to Gilbert’s assertion that “no one cares” about Halloween costumes, in a since-expired Instagram story, actress and musician Mandy Moore asked, “Is this a joke?” 

    “Come on @sagaftra. This is what’s important? We’re asking you to negotiate in good faith on our behalf,” she continued. “So many folks across every aspect of this industry have been sacrificing mightily for months. Get back to the table and get a fair deal so everyone can get back to work.”

    Via X (formerly Twitter), Ryan Reynolds was more succinct, but no less cutting. “I look forward to screaming ‘scab’ at my 8-year-old all night,” he tweeted, referring to the derisive term used for those who violate strike rules. “She’s not in the union, but she needs to learn.”

    Despite the uproar from its members, the union is standing firm. “SAG-AFTRA issued Halloween guidance in response to questions from content creators and members about how to support the strike during this festive season,” a union spokesperson said in a statement reported by Variety. “This was meant to help them avoid promoting struck work, and it is the latest in a series of guidelines we have issued.”

    “It does not apply to anyone’s kids,” the spokesperson said. But the guidance suggests that if an actor’s kids dress up in struck garb, their parents better keep the costumes offline, as members shouldn’t “post costumes inspired by struck content to social media.” That’s because “social media photos of costumes inspired by content covered by the strike could be considered publicity work,” the New York Times reports.

    Responding to criticism that the Halloween rules would impede negotiation, the SAG-AFTRA statement also noted, “We are on strike for important reasons, and have been for nearly 100 days. Our number one priority remains getting the studios back to the negotiating table so we can get a fair deal for our members, and finally put our industry back to work.”

    But one striking actor wonders if there’s something more sinister at play here, a seasonally appropriate level of dread regarding moves just beneath the surface. “There’s something in me that just not buying this,” actor Steven Weber wrote in the comments to Gilbert’s incensed post. “It’s too petty, too weak. And of course the AMPTP will amplify this. Not buying it.”

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    Eve Batey

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  • Done Deal: Here Is What’s in the New WGA Contract and What It Means

    Done Deal: Here Is What’s in the New WGA Contract and What It Means

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    After 148 days on strike, Hollywood writers are returning to work. The Writers Guild of America set the end to its work stoppage for midnight tonight, meaning scribes can resume pitching ideas, selling scripts, and reconvening in writers rooms as soon as Wednesday.

    The second-longest writers strike in Hollywood history began May 2 and ended after a marathon five-day negotiation session that included participation from top studio leaders including Bob Iger and Ted Sarandos. The guild has released details of its tentative agreement with Hollywood studios and streamers and will now give its 11,500 members until October 9 to vote on whether they want to ratify the contract.

    The leadership of both branches of the WGA voted unanimously to recommend the new three-year contract, which is likely to win approval. In an email to members on Sunday night, the WGA Negotiating Committee called the deal “exceptional” and pointed to “meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership.” Writers won concessions in several key areas, including establishing viewership-based streaming bonuses and rules around the use of artificial intelligence. But they also had to make some compromises, including accepting smaller salary minimum raises. “It was a give and take on both sides,” says a source with knowledge of the deal.

    Since the beginning of the strike, writers have been asking for more transparency about viewership for their shows on streaming services like Netflix and Disney+, and for bonus payments when their shows perform well. As part of the deal, companies that operate a streaming service will provide the WGA with the total number of hours viewed, both domestically and internationally, of original streaming series. And beginning next year, the companies will pay a bonus on any made-for-streaming show or movie that is viewed by at least 20% of a streaming service’s domestic subscriber base in the first 90 days of release.

    On the issue of artificial intelligence, the two sides agree that AI can’t write or rewrite a script, and AI-generated material will not be considered source material. Further, a writer can choose to use AI with company approval, but a company cannot require that a writer use AI software. The studios retained the ability to train AI using film and TV scripts, but gave writers the right to challenge that use in the future.

    The WGA and AMPTP also reached an agreement on establishing minimum staffing for writers rooms, which became a hot-button issue during the strike, particularly for less established writers who were worried that the increasing use of shorter, smaller rooms known as mini-rooms would limit job opportunities. (Conversely, some showrunners and other upper-level writers worried that writer-room minimums would mean that they’d have to hire junior writers at the expense of more seasoned contributors.) Under the new contract, the number of writers will increase in proportion to a show’s number of episodes—unless a single writer is hired to write all episodes. For example, a six-episode show that has been greenlit would require at least three writers, while a 10-episode show would need at least five.

    “This is the biggest contract we’ve won in decades,” says comedian and WGA board member Adam Conover, who also serves on the guild’s negotiating committee. “It’s also precedent-setting. We won terms that we are going to improve every three years, for instance with the success-based streaming residual.” The WGA estimates that the deal is worth $233 million annually, nearly three times the value of the AMPTP’s original proposal.

    With writers returning to work, Hollywood will scramble to restart productions that had been shelved for nearly five months. There’s likely to be an influx of scripts that writers and their agents have been waiting to pitch. And writers rooms that had been shut down—or never even convened—will soon start up with the hopes of getting scripts done before the end of the year. The actors are still on strike, but many people in the industry are hoping that the WGA deal will lead to a quick resolution of that work stoppage as well. Soundstages are already booking up in preparation.

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    Natalie Jarvey

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  • Drew Barrymore Apologizes to Writers, but Will Resume Her Show Anyway

    Drew Barrymore Apologizes to Writers, but Will Resume Her Show Anyway

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    After defending her daytime talk show’s return amid the ongoing writers strike on Sunday, Drew Barrymore put a face to her show’s decision in a video apology posted to Instagram on Friday. 

    “I believe there’s nothing I can do or say in this moment to make it okay,” the host began, noting that her choice to resume The Drew Barrymore Show “wasn’t a PR-protected situation” and that she was taking “full responsibility” for the call. “There are so many reasons why this is so complex, and I just want everyone to know my intentions have never been in a place to upset or hurt anyone. It’s not who I am,” Barrymore added. “I’ve been through so many ups and downs in my life, and this is one of them.”

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    Earlier this week, there was swift backlash to the announcement that her talk show would return despite both the WGA and SAG strikes, though Barrymore is not alone: Other daytime TV shows, including The Talk, The Jennifer Hudson Show, and Sherri, are also resuming production, as is Bill Maher’s HBO late-night series, Real Time. The WGA announced that it would picket the Monday and Tuesday tapings of Barrymore’s program, as it is “a WGA-covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers.” SAG-AFTRA released a statement clarifying that Barrymore wasn’t in violation of its strike, saying that her return to The Drew Barrymore Show “is permissible work” and that “Drew’s role as host does not violate the current strike rules.” Barrymore, who bowed out of hosting May’s MTV Movie & TV Awards due to the WGA strike’s start, was subsequently dropped as host of the National Book Awards ceremony.

    Chelsea White, Cristina Kinon, and Liz Koe, the three head writers on The Drew Barrymore Show, joined the WGA’s protests on Monday and Tuesday, as reported by Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter. White told the former outlet that she learned of the show’s return via an Instagram post and was “disappointed” by the move. “When any production that is covered under WGA comes back during a strike, it undermines our whole group effort to come to a fair contract with the AMPTP,” she said.

    “I deeply apologize to writers. I deeply apologize to unions. I deeply apologize,” Barrymore said in her Instagram video. “I don’t exactly know what to say because sometimes, when things are so tough, it’s hard to make decisions from that place.” She reiterated that it was her decision to resume the show, which reportedly forced all audience members to take off their WGA pins upon entry to the studio’s building due to safety concerns. “The pins set off the metal detectors at CBS Broadcast Center security,” said a spokesperson for The Drew Barrymore Show. “Audience members were asked to remove them and then offered them back after they cleared the metal detectors.”

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    Savannah Walsh

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  • ‘The Golden Bachelor’: Everything We Know About ABC’s “Strike-Proof” Spin-Off

    ‘The Golden Bachelor’: Everything We Know About ABC’s “Strike-Proof” Spin-Off

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    In addition to solving its scheduling woes, The Golden Bachelor may 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.

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    Savannah Walsh

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  • Extreme Heat Halts WGA, SAG-AFTRA Pickets In Some LA Locations

    Extreme Heat Halts WGA, SAG-AFTRA Pickets In Some LA Locations

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    As negotiations sour between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMTPT) and the historic double strike for writers and actors continues,  another player has entered the ring: our rapidly overheating planet, which is expected to reach dangerous temperatures at some studio locations next week.

    This week, 22 states across the U.S. faced extreme heat alerts, CNN reports, and “hundreds of heat records could be set in the coming days” as regions across the country “approach temperatures never-before recorded.” One of those hot zones is Southern California’s San Fernando Valley, home to studios including NBCUniversal, Disney, and Warner Brothers. 

    All three of those studios have been the focus of protests, demonstrations, and pickets since the WGA strike began on May 2, and action there only intensified when actors’ union the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) mounted their own strike in July. 

    But you won’t see any picketing at those studios on Monday or Tuesday. According to the National Weather Service, the San Fernando Valley will experience “dangerously hot conditions” those days, with “daytime temperatures of 100 to 110 degrees common,” and “the potential for heat related illnesses” sharply increased for those outside the studios’ air-conditioned walls. As a result, Deadline reports, the WGA will not picket in any San Fernando Valley locations on Monday or Tuesday, and SAG-AFTRA has canceled its planned pickets at Warner Brothers and Disney. (Pickets at locations outside that region will continue as usual, both guilds say.)

    The extreme weather—as well as another break in picketing planned for the long Labor Day weekend—might give the AMPTP a bit of (air-conditioned) breathing room as it attempts to revamp its now-tarnished public image. The coalition of studios and streamers has hired D.C.-based crisis communications firm The Levinson Group, the Hollywood Reporter noted Friday, a company focused on “corporate clients with reputational and risk concerns.” 

    This new PR plan follows a contentious exchange between the studios and writers around the AMPTP’s decision to release its latest offer to the writers’ guild to the media, a move the WGA characterized as “simply a tactic in the middle of an ongoing negotiation.” Following that public ploy, talks appear to be at a standstill, and “there remains no timetable for when negotiations” might resume, THR reports.

    Meanwhile, post-strike negotiations haven’t even started with the actors’ side, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher told the Associated Press this week. “I’m not really understanding what the silent treatment is,” Drescher said of the studios’ decision to ghost the thespians. “It could be a tactical strategy to see if we they can wait us out until we lose our resolve and then they can make a better deal for themselves.”

    If so, Drescher says, the studios have another thing coming—heat wave be damned. “This is an inflection point,” Drescher says. “This is not like any past negotiation. We’re in a whole new ball game. And if things don’t change radically, quite frankly, I think that they’re going to ultimately get very hurt by this strike.”

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    Eve Batey

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  • “Long-Term Damage”? Bob Iger, Ted Sarandos, and David Zaslav’s Bad-PR Summer

    “Long-Term Damage”? Bob Iger, Ted Sarandos, and David Zaslav’s Bad-PR Summer

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    In the largest screening room on the MGM lot in 1933, Louis B. Mayer completed his transformation into a Marvel-worthy villain. As the Great Depression raged, he solemnly shared with top executives and stars that the studio was at risk of going belly up. Americans weren’t going to the movies, and MGM’s rivals were in a panic about a complete production shutdown. To save MGM—and really all of Hollywood—employees would need to take a 50% pay cut. “I, Louis B. Mayer, will work to see that you get back every penny when this terrible emergency is over,” the Scott Eyman biography Lion of Hollywood quotes him as saying.

    Spoiler alert: They never got their money back. Mayer—on his way to becoming the highest-paid executive in America—received a bonus that year after MGM posted profits, and as Eyman writes, the actors and writers unions were born out of workers’ discontent over the industry-wide cuts.

    Ninety years later, amid the first double strike in over 60 years, the titans of Hollywood are fighting a narrative that relatively little has changed, particularly as they have collected paychecks of eight figures or more. Though the struggle to establish new contracts with both the writers and actors is ongoing, the major studios may have already lost the optics war. “It’s been amazing to me how lopsided the PR battle has been,” says Stephen Galloway, dean of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. “The actors and writers are sending in the Spartan hordes while Rome is crumbling, and you’ve got Bob Iger doing one of the biggest foot-in-mouth cases of any executive ever.”

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    In case you somehow missed it, he’s referring to the Disney CEO’s unfortunately timed July 13 interview with CNBC’s David Faber, right before the actors strike began, during Allen & Company’s annual Sun Valley conference. There, at a luxurious retreat widely referred to as summer camp for billionaires, Iger called the unions’ demands “just not realistic.” It was a shot across the bow in the ongoing labor negotiations that only further incensed picketers. The following day, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher called Iger’s comments on the strike “terribly repugnant and out of touch,” adding that, if she were Disney, she would “lock him behind doors” and forbid him from commenting publicly on the strike again. Executives at Iger’s level regularly make headlines, but during the strikes the criticisms have become more personal than usual.

    It was always going to be difficult for the studios to win the hearts and minds of the public during their contract talks with SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, something more than one studio-side source concedes to Vanity Fair. “Optics are important here,” says an exec who stresses that Hollywood itself isn’t in a good place, the studios having collectively laid off thousands of employees over the last year as they face pressure from Wall Street to extract profits from their streaming businesses. “I don’t know how we position ourselves.” The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains on behalf of the studios, has not commented much publicly about the negotiations, but their members have of course been called out from the picket lines. “We’ve got a message for Mr. Iger,” actor Bryan Cranston said during a speech at a recent rally. “I know, sir, that you look at things through a different lens. We don’t expect you to understand who we are. But…we will not be having our jobs taken away and given to robots. We will not have you take away our right to work and earn a decent living. And lastly, and most importantly, we will not allow you to take away our dignity!”

    Before Iger picked up a lightning rod and held it over his head, it was David Zaslav who’d been cast as a villain in Hollywood’s saga of the summer. On May 20, as the writers strike dragged on into its third week, Zaslav was met with boos and picket-style chants during a commencement speech at Boston University, which was conferring an honorary degree upon the 63-year-old ​​Warner Bros. Discovery boss. The hostile reception caught WBD off guard. Zaslav’s speech had been booked two years in advance, and it was a meaningful appearance for the suddenly embattled mogul, who earned his law degree from BU in 1985. (The university’s president publicly scolded “students who were appallingly coarse and deliberately abusive to Mr. Zaslav.”)

    Zaslav and his lieutenants were less surprised when, days later, he came in for backlash after cohosting a star-studded soiree at the French Riviera’s Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc during the Cannes Film Festival, a fête which signified, as The New York Times suggested, “the A-listification of Hollywood’s newest mogul.” Some in Zaslav’s orbit thought that going through with the bash was a bad idea given the position that he and the company were in. But it had been in the works for the better part of a year and was seen as an important symbolic event, a celebration of film and the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. So WBD made what was described to VF as a “clear-eyed” call to proceed, fully aware that it would probably be used against them. (Hollywood stars, from Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese to Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson, and numerous others, apparently had few, if any, qualms about showing up.)

    A scathing Zaslav critique in July by a freelancer for GQ (one of VF’s sister publications) turned into its own public relations mess, further fueling the Zaslav news cycle. Since the Cannes soiree, Zaslav has kept his head down for the most part; unlike Iger, he didn’t chat with CNBC during Sun Valley as he typically would. That doesn’t mean the scrutiny has cooled off. On the contrary, WBD is bracing for big Zaslav pieces that are said to be in the works at two major-league publications, one of which is a long-simmering magazine feature with three prominent bylines attached. (We’ll leave that as a blind item for now.)

    Iger softened his public stance on the strike in the company’s early-August earnings call, declaring his “deep respect and appreciation” for Hollywood’s creative community, and saying he is personally committed to finding a solution to the ongoing dispute. The feeling is that it would have been best if both he and Zaslav had followed the lead of, say, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and taken a step away from the spotlight. “Silence and careful movements would have really been the key to weathering this,” says an executive at a major media company. “Instead, they both very much stepped right in it, and I think created long-term damage from a PR perspective. Iger had more reputational damage, because he’s seen as the king of Hollywood.”

    That’s not to say Sarandos hasn’t weathered his share of criticism since the strikes began. You could reason, after all, that Netflix set the stage for this whole mess by supercharging the streaming wars, and many writers argued just that during the earliest days of the strike. As picketers flocked to the Netflix offices in Los Angeles and New York, Sarandos backed out of the PEN America Literary Gala “given the threat to disrupt this wonderful evening.” The company also canceled plans for its first-ever Upfront Week advertising showcase. “It is head-scratching to many of us that Sarandos has not become more of a target,” says a plugged-in Hollywood insider. “Behind closed doors, everyone on both sides is like, ‘He got us into this. Now he needs to get us out of it.’”

    From what we hear, Sarandos—who in his first strike-era earnings call announced expected savings related to the production shutdown, while also positioning himself as a pro-labor son of a union electrician—has been getting more involved in the negotiations of late. Sources familiar with the talks say Iger has also become more hands-on, particularly as the AMPTP and WGA resume their talks. Other engaged leaders who we hear have pushed for more face-to-face meetings are Zaslav and Sony boss Tony Vinciquerra. Meanwhile veteran entertainment executive Peter Chernin, who was an instrumental figure in resolving the last writers strike, has stepped in recently to lend a hand.

    It might be too late for any one executive to come out of this conflict looking like a winner, but that didn’t stop one communications veteran from quipping recently, “They should hire publicists.” After all, the writers and the actors have more than a little experience crafting messages and winning people over to their side. In contrast to a Deadline story published on the eve of the SAG-AFTRA strike, the studio party line has been that they don’t regard the contract talks as a battle. Encouragingly, WGA negotiating committee cochair Chris Keyser recently said much the same: “This isn’t a war we’re in, it’s a negotiation. It’s just a negotiation. There is no face-saving here for either side because there is no winner or loser.”

    A few months of intensely scrutinized faux pas and agita-inducing press will, of course, fade in many, if not all, memories. These guys are still going to be in charge after the strikes come to a close and the Town eventually gets back to business. Iger recently re-upped his contract through 2026 and has successfully reduced streaming losses. Zaz is chipping away at WBD’s debt load and riding high on Barbie’s success at the box office. Sarandos has the dark horse hit of the summer with (presumably inexpensive) reruns of the legal drama Suits, and Netflix is back to adding subscribers at a solid clip.

    As one of our sources notes, “If your shareholders love you and the strike is settled, things can look a lot different for you in six months.”

    Still, Chapman University’s Galloway has an idea that might have helped these CEOs along the way: to avoid the comparisons to Mayer and his ilk, they could have reserved some of their multimillion-dollar compensation packages for a fund to help workers struggling as a result of the production stoppage and industry-wide layoffs. “Even then, they would probably be criticized,” he says, “but at least people would see that they’re willing to have some skin in the game.”

    This story has been updated. 

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    Natalie Jarvey, Joe Pompeo

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  • Hollywood Media Is Abuzz With a Star Columnist’s Request for Priority Access

    Hollywood Media Is Abuzz With a Star Columnist’s Request for Priority Access

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    A well-respected awards columnist at The Hollywood Reporter is causing a stir in Hollywood media over an email he sent to studios and strategists last week, requesting priority access to the hottest movies coming this year. If the studios didn’t comply, there may be consequences, he suggested in the email. “As you plan the rollout of your film(s), I would like to respectfully ask that you not show films to any of my fellow awards pundits before you show them to me, even if that person represents himself or herself to you as (a) a potential reviewer of it, (b) needing to see the film in order to be part of decisions about covers, or (c) really anything else,” Scott Feinberg, THR’s executive editor of awards, wrote in the email reviewed by Vanity Fair.

    “We feel that doing so is plainly unfair to THR, as it puts us at a competitive disadvantage, especially at film fests, where every second counts,” Feinberg wrote. “It is not unreasonable to ask you to insist that someone is either an awards pundit or a critic/cover editor, but not both, at least during awards season,” he added, expressing apparent frustration that critics and editors who also do awards punditry jump him—primarily an awards pundit—in line to get access to screenings. Feinberg, a longtime Hollywood columnist, is known for the “Feinberg Forecast,” in which he predicts various showbiz awards races, and for his interview-driven Awards Chatter podcast.

    In the email, he went on to imply that there would be repercussions for studios that continued to widely distribute invitations to screenings, and that “moving forward, [THR] may take that into consideration during the booking of roundtables, podcasts, and other coverage,” he wrote, referring to the sought-after spots on the outlet’s celebrity-fueled discussion series. Sources who saw the email—which I’m told went out widely and has since circulated even further—found it either a faintly absurd attempt to get ahead of his competitors or an implied threat that they had to take seriously. “As somebody who’s organizing and spearheading an Oscar campaign this year for a certain title, it just puts a really bad taste in my mouth,” says one senior publicist at a top studio, who notes that the decision to screen early “lives with me, and it lives with people who are working with filmmakers.” They added: “This culture of prescreening has just clearly gotten a little bit out of control if you have these kinds of emails going around, where people are demanding they see it before their competitors, who are actually their colleagues.”

    Penske Media Corporation took over operations of THR in 2020, as it continued to expand its entertainment news footprint. The company also oversees Deadline, Variety, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Indiewire. A spokesperson for PMC clarified in a statement that Feinberg “did not in any way mean to imply that he should see films before others, but just that all awards analysts should see them at the same time and not be given preferential treatment,” adding that the email was “inartfully worded” and that Feinberg plans to follow up with the studios and strategists to make that clear. “It was Scott’s understanding that there have been instances where other awards analysts have gotten early access to a film by also claiming to be a reviewer and were able to see films before others. Any suggestion of consequences for not providing early viewing access to Scott was not the intent,” the spokesperson said.

    In many ways, Feinberg’s ask speaks to this moment in Hollywood—as the dual writers and actors strikes turn the entertainment media apparatus on its head. Feinberg specifically noted his desire for exclusives “given the relative quiet in the business,” and cordially expressed his hope to work with film promoters through what will likely be a very bizarre awards season. SAG-AFTRA, the union representing Hollywood actors, has barred actors from promoting their work in the press, putting an indefinite moratorium on everything from cover shoots to interviews to red carpets. Meanwhile, the screenwriters work stoppage has ground the entertainment industry to a halt. “The celebrity factory has shut down,” The Ankler CEO Janice Min told Vanity Fair last month. “If this goes on for a long time, you will feel it across the whole internet.” Trade publications like THR and Variety will likely feel it even more, given the loss of advertising—particularly around for-your-consideration campaigns—that comes with the press blackout.

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    Charlotte Klein

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  • Jamie Lee Curtis Digs Herself Out Of Comments About SAG-AFTRA Strike

    Jamie Lee Curtis Digs Herself Out Of Comments About SAG-AFTRA Strike

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    We’re a little more than three weeks into the actors’ strike, a landmark action taken by the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) after contract negotiations with studio and streaming consortium the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) ground to a halt. That strike, which prohibits actors from certain types of promotional conversations about past or upcoming projects, was predicted to shut down the Hollywood media machine. 

    But those wise pundits didn’t seem to account for one fact: Many actors can’t seem to restrain themselves from speaking publicly, and without the ability to promote film or TV work, they’re opining—often confusingly—about the labor action. The latest of those is Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis, who took to social media Saturday to walk back earlier comments that seemed to indicate a lack of support for the strike.

    It’s a cycle that’s becoming all too familiar as the double writer/actor strike continues: First out of the comment-and-recant gate was Heels actor/American Ninja Warrior aspirant Stephen Amell, who announced at a comic book convention that the strike was “myopic” and ”a reductive negotiating tactic.” A backlash from supporters ensued, and in a subsequent Instagram post, Amell said that those remarks were “clearly contradictory to my true feelings and my emphatic statement that I stand with my union.” 

    Soon to follow was outspoken fan of anti-trans pundit Jordan Peterson/Shazam! star Zachary Levi, who said “I fully support my union, the WGA, and the strike,” after a clip of Levi saying that restrictions on project promotion are “so dumb” at another comic book convention was surfaced. That comment, he said, was “made in jest” and “taken out of context.”

    And now we have Jamie Lee Curtis, whose late parents, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, were prominent figures during Hollywood’s last double strike in 1960, even opening their home for a union meeting to help actors understand the purpose of the labor action. 

    Those royal roots didn’t come up on Thursday, when Curtis spoke with Variety at a star-studded groundbreaking ceremony for food security nonprofit Project Angel Food, for which Curtis is an honorary chair. At the Los Angeles event, which marked the kickoff of an ambitious $51 million project to expand the organization’s footprint in the city, Curtis told red carpet reporter Marc Malkin that “I don’t like the rhetoric on both sides” of the negotiations between her guild and studios.

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    “I’m more Switzerland. I’m not a polarized person here,” she said. “I don’t like the them vs. us. The fact that there’s a them and an us bothers me. It’s one industry and I hope that all of the sides can recognize the oneness of our industry.”

    At that same event, she spoke, on camera, with Reuters, reiterating her “Switzerland” aspirations, and saying “we’ll all have to give up something to get something.”

    In Curtis’s case, it took a few days before the inevitable Instagram post clarifying exactly where she stands (on the picket line), but that did indeed come Saturday evening. In a two-photo post depicting a SAG-AFTRA strike icon and Curtis posing with a picket sign, Curtis wrote (sic throughout) “I FULLY SUPPORT the @sagaftra strike, have volunteered making signs multiple times and have donated to the relief fund. I SUPPORT the leadership and SUPPORT our demands. I’m a rank-and-file union member. I am not on any negotiating committee. I believe we have to look at all sides in any conflict in order to find resolution, solution and a fair and equitable settlement.”

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    Eve Batey

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  • No End in Sight for Writers Strike Following Friday Meeting

    No End in Sight for Writers Strike Following Friday Meeting

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    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-Ireland told 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.

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    Eve Batey

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  • The Terror and Promise of a Very Weird, Very Long Emmy Season

    The Terror and Promise of a Very Weird, Very Long Emmy Season

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    If you’re in Los Angeles, you have seen the ads, heard about the FYC events—driven at this point entirely by below-the-line nominees—starting to get off the ground. Actors’ press completed before the strike is still making its way online, predictions are circulating and being debated, and the voting calendar for Television Academy members remains unchanged. By all accounts, given the seismic disruptions caused by the dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, Emmy season is feeling oddly business as usual.

    But with one huge caveat: Instead of being one month away, the Emmy Awards are now officially undated—with all indications pointing to a four-month postponement, into the beginning of 2024. The Emmys always struggle to make noise, relative to the Oscars, in the greater Hollywood landscape, as the ceremony arrives after a drawn-out second phase and smack in the middle of fall festivals—better known as the period of Oscar season when everything still feels fresh and exciting. This time around, they will have a lot more to compete with.

    Put bluntly, the 2023 (slash 2024?) Emmys are going to feel especially weird. It’s not like promotion will get extended in line with the broadcast’s date shift. At the end of August, when voting on the winners concludes, Hollywood will completely cease any talk of TV’s biggest night. Strategists will have no strategy left to map out, talent no talking points left to promote. The results of the Emmys will sit with the relevant accountants, untouched, for months. When the show finally airs, it’ll likely be in January, the same month as the Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globes. Those latter awards shows, however, will be honoring movies from the past year, as well as much newer TV. 

    Take the example of The Bear, FX/Hulu’s breakout sophomore hit. Star Jeremy Allen White will likely win the comedy-lead-acting Emmy for season one, which aired way back in the summer of 2022, within weeks of taking the Globe and/or Critics Choice Award for the show’s second season, which aired this past June and is eligible for Emmy consideration next year. Most viewers and even some voters probably won’t realize this, at least; it’s to the Emmys’ benefit that its ineligible second season will keep it relatively relevant. But still: Weird!

    And what of so many other shows? Drama series nominees House of the Dragon, The White Lotus, Better Call Saul, Andor, Wednesday, and Obi-Wan Kenobi will have all been off the air for well over a year by the time the Emmys happen. Should they win, acting front-runners like Jessica Chastain (George & Tammy), Paul Walter Hauser (Black Bird), and Niecy Nash-Betts (Dahmer) will take the stage about a year after previously winning SAG or Critics Choice Awards for the same roles. Such a delayed embrace would feel especially stark as the awards shows surrounding the Emmys are set to honor TV and performances that’ll be only a few months old. 

    On its face, this puts the Emmys in a difficult spot at a difficult moment, given the scrutiny over awards-show ratings and general decline of network television. The ceremony is typically broadcast on a different major channel every year, with Fox taking the reins this time around. The Emmys rarely honor broadcast shows, with notable exceptions like Abbott Elementary, and offer these channels fewer benefits in the current, segmented viewership era. And this is all assuming that the strikes are even over by January, and that the stars that the show so desperately needs will be able to walk the carpet, participate in corny bits, and accept their gold trophies.

    With the SAG Awards moving to Netflix and other awards shows potentially following suit, all this may contribute to an acceleration of the Emmys’ evolution. There’s no reason to expect business as usual because, frankly, it’s not. Whoever hosts can more sharply call out the bizarre dynamics. The ceremony can function as a preview of what is to come as much of a look back at the year’s (or year before’s) TV. Perhaps room could, or should, be made for a little more pizzazz. For an awards show notoriously averse to change, then, here’s some inspiration. Many of these winners will, fairly or not, feel a little bit like an afterthought. It’s on the Television Academy to tell us why else to tune in.

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    David Canfield

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  • ‘Fantastic Four’ Casting Rumors Are Keeping Restless Film Fans Engaged

    ‘Fantastic Four’ Casting Rumors Are Keeping Restless Film Fans Engaged

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    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 Who Matt 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 Things breakout 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.

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    Savannah Walsh

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  • Zachary Levi Awkwardly Calls Rules of Actors Strike “So Dumb”

    Zachary Levi Awkwardly Calls Rules of Actors Strike “So Dumb”

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    Zachary Levi, the Shazam! star who is no stranger to a controversial remark, has apparently awkwardly questioned the parameters of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.

    On Thursday, a video of Levi onstage at Manchester Comic-Con, which took place in the U.K. last month, began circulating. In the viral clip, Levi expresses joking frustration over the fact that he can’t discuss his past work on Chuck, Tangled and the Shazam! films without outright naming those titles. “I’m not allowed to talk about…. This is so dumb,” he says to the crowd. “I’m not allowed to talk about any of my previous work. I’m not allowed to talk about movies that I may be a superhero in. I’m not allowed to talk about TV shows that I may have been a nerd who worked at a Best Buy. I’m not allowed to talk about any animated princess movies that I was fantastic in — as the best prince ever! I’m not allowed to talk about those things.”

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    Levi’s remarks surfaced shortly after Arrow star Stephen Amell called the strike “myopic” and “a reductive negotiating tactic” while attending GalaxyCon in Raleigh, North Carolina. After receiving backlash, the actor later clarified his comments on Instagram, writing, “From an intellectual perspective, I understand why we are striking, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t emotionally frustrating on many levels for all involved” and requesting that “when you see me on a picket line please don’t whip any hard fruit.”

    Although Levi bemoaned the guidelines in what appears to be an attempt at humor, the actor has publicly stated his support for the actors strike. Earlier this month, he shared an Instagram video with his thoughts on the negotiation for a fair contract with studios. “It’s always profit over people and not the other way around. So mark my words, if we don’t do something drastic right now…we’re doing something very drastic, and we need to be doing this very drastic thing,” Levi said. “We need to be striking, we should have done this years ago.”

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    Vanity Fair has reached out to Levi’s reps for comment.

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    Savannah Walsh

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  • Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar to Be Honored at a Topsy-Turvy TIFF

    Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar to Be Honored at a Topsy-Turvy TIFF

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    The Toronto International Film Festival has announced its first round of Tribute Award winners, with Oscar-winning filmmakers Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar confirmed to be fêted up in Canada next month with the Ebert Director Award and the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media, respectively.

    Of immediate note here is that, as of now, neither director has a film slated to screen at the festival. Since the TIFF Tribute Awards began in 2019, every person selected for the director prize also had a movie in play—and an Oscar push to get off the ground. The showcase marked pivotal early moments on the campaign trail for Taika Waititi, Chloé Zhao, and Denis Villeneuve, whose movies all went on to win Oscars; last year, Sam Mendes was named the recipient in a promising early sign before his new film, Empire of Light, flatlined with critics and audiences.

    Lee’s selection, by contrast, reorients the presentation as a standalone celebration of a Hollywood legend, outside the noisy confines of awards season. It’s not immediately clear whether the move was necessitated by the dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, which will greatly limit attendance in Toronto next month compared to a typical year for the festival, but it does offer a clear indication of just how different this year’s event will feel—if still represented by heavy-hitting talent.

    “The TIFF Ebert Director Award recognizes filmmakers who have exemplified greatness in their career,” TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey said in a statement. “A foremost storyteller of our era, Spike’s body of work from She’s Gotta Have it, to Do the Right Thing to Mo’ Better Blues, to his most recent film at TIFF 2021, American Utopia, Spike has inspired audiences and made a lasting impact on the art of filmmaking.”

    Notable directors with movies at TIFF 2023 include Alexander Payne (The Holdovers), Richard Linklater (Hit Man), and Craig Gillespie (Dumb Money). While some aren’t credited as writers on their films, each is a member of the WGA, which can impact how they participate in the festival. Several actors turned directors are also featured on the program and seeking acquisition of their titles, with some like Ethan Hawke’s Wildcat already securing interim agreements. But sources tell Vanity Fair that both the optics and logistics of exactly how they will be executed for promotion remain fluid and case-by-case.

    The actor tribute, should TIFF still feature that award as part of its program, will almost certainly not be able to play the same role as it has in years past, when Brendan Fraser, Jessica Chastain, and Joaquin Phoenix were honored before going on to win the Oscar. (TIFF has confirmed for Vanity Fair that the festival will still present actor awards this year.) Despite having Oscar hopes this season, Annette Bening (Nyad), Michael Fassbender (Next Goal Wins), and Colman Domingo (Rustin) will not be able to attend TIFF, since the likes of Netflix and Disney’s Searchlight are backing their contenders. Meanwhile, Oscar winners Chastain and Kate Winslet are among the A-listers top-lining TIFF movies without a studio attached, rendering their situation murkier.

    Almodóvar follows in the footsteps of Buffy Sainte-Marie, Alanis Obomsawin, and Mira Nair with the Award in Impact Media, which recognizes forces behind socially impactful cinema. The Spanish auteur has hit the festival circuit this year with his short film, Strange Way of Life, starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke. (It premiered in Cannes, and Sony Pictures Classics has acquired it for release.) The Western is not currently on the TIFF program, though the lineup has yet to be fully revealed.

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    David Canfield

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