SAG-AFTRA actors are on strike. Yesterday the union’s board of directors voted unanimously to approve a strike. The vote came after negotiations between the 160,000-member actors’ union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to reach an agreement on a new film and TV contract.
Actors are joining screenwriters already on picket lines today; they have been battling studios for a deal that would deliver better pay and residuals from streaming and address an array of issues, including the use of artificial intelligence, that are impacting the entertainment industry.
Union leaders announced the board’s vote at a noon news conference in Los Angeles yesterday. It’s the first time in 63 years that both actors and writers have been on strike at the same time.
SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher delivered a scathing speech as she announced the union’s members would join the Writers Guild of America in a strike action, targeting the “billionaires” running the major studios and streaming services and saying they have forgotten about those “who make the machine run.”
“A strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life,” the AMPTP said in a statement. “The Union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry.”
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