Thousands of Hollywood stars are joining with the Writers Guild of America members who have been on strike after failed negotiations with film and TV studios.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, — which represents more than 160,000 Hollywood performers — voted Thursday to strike after failing to reach an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), NBC News reports.
Film and television productions came to an immediate stop after it was agreed the union would begin their strike at midnight Friday, July 14, and take to the picket lines.
“The strike will begin at midnight tonight, and all of us — union members, leadership and staff — will be out on the picket lines tomorrow morning,” the union’s chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland confirmed after the vote.
SAG-AFTRA members raise similar concerns as those of the Writers Guild who have been on strike since April, with many Hollywood performers worried about how profits are split amid the current streaming era and the rise of unregulated digital technologies. Actors are seeking higher base pay and protective policies around the use of artificial intelligence, among other demands.
“What’s happening to us is happening across all fields of labor, when employers make Wall Street and greed their priority and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said.
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher: “How they plead poverty that they are losing money left and right when they give $100 millions to their CEOs.”
“If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines” pic.twitter.com/zIIsNQjZHa
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 13, 2023
The actress, best known for starring in the 90s sitcom “The Nanny,” slammed the “disgusting” response from studio heads during the negotiations process.
“I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us,” Drescher said, as noted by Huff Post.
“I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right, when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs.”
“It is disgusting,” she added. “Shame on them.”
After the strike was announced, actors in the upcoming “Oppenheimer” film walked out of the UK premiere, The Independent reports. Productions for highly-anticipated films like “Deadpool 3,” “Mission Impossible 8,” and “Venom 3” came to a complete stop once the strike was launched, via The Hollywood Reporter.
It’s the first time Hollywood actors are joining screenwriters in an industry-wide strike in over 60 years. The strike is expected to last for months and cause huge losses for the film and television industry.
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