Credit: SAG-AFTRA/ITMSAG-AFTRA has officially agreed to extend its contract negotiations with the AMPTP past midnight last night until July 12. This extension comes after guild president Fran Drescher told Good Morning America that they were making headway in some areas, but not in others.
The main issues on the table for these negotiations include actor pay, which has been falling due to outdated contracts that hinge on longer seasons and shorter hiatuses than they used to, leaving actors with less work and less money – despite the fact that studios have been handing massive bonuses to their own executives.
Actors also have problems with the common methodology of auditions, which has come to be more reliant on self-taped material in the wake of the pandemic. The guild complains that “Too many pages, too little time and unreasonable requirements have made self-taping auditions a massive, daily, uncompensated burden on the lives of performers.”
The main complaint, however, is the widespread use of AI, which is currently unregulated and already replacing writers and actors in the field. Word from inside the negotiating rooms has given the distinct impression that studios are not taking these concerns as seriously as they should be, as they fight to be able to continue using CGI renderings rather than actual actors as they see fit.
For all of these reasons, 2000+ A-List members of SAG-AFTRA, including the likes of Meryl Streep and Quinta Brunson, signed a letter authorizing the union to go on strike if their terms were not met by the end of the negotiating period.
However, now the negotiating period has come and gone, and talks have been extended by nearly two weeks. This is a good thing – while the WGA Strike may be putting a huge damper on Hollywood activity, a comorbid SAG-AFTRA strike would shut tinseltown down entirely.
What Happens To TV If SAG-AFTRA Strikes Too?
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Under the terms of the Writers’ Guild of America, the only productions that cannot continue during a strike are those that need writers to function.
As we’ve covered before, this is more widespread than a layman might think – most reality TV these days has writers on board to make it more dramatic, for example, so those shows can’t run like you’d think they would. In addition, most TV shows, which are run by head writers, rather than directors like in the movies, need to have at least one writer on set in order to tweak the story or dialogue if something isn’t working.
The only TV programs that can still happen in the United States under the WGA strike are films that have already been fully written, news, game shows, and sports. Everything else requires writers.
SAG-AFTRA has far stricter rules than the WGA when it comes to this sort of thing, and that alone could make things much more complicated if they were forced to strike too. Their Global Rule One states:
No member shall render any services or make an agreement to perform services for any employer who has not executed a basic minimum agreement with the union, which is in full force and effect, in any jurisdiction in which there is a SAG-AFTRA national collective bargaining agreement in place.
This would mean that those television productions that have been able to squeak by unnoticed by filming in other countries during the WGA strike, like House of the Dragon and Andor, would also immediately have to shut down filming.
Those “strike-proof” fall schedules that some networks have been putting out might also need looking at, as game shows can’t film if their hosts are members of SAG-AFTRA. As it turns out, “strike-proof” really only applied to the WGA strike, not a SAG-AFTRA strike.
How Would a SAG-AFTRA Strike Affect the Film Industry?
Related: SAG-AFTRA A-List Strike Letter Signed By Anonymous Hedgehog
Films, too, would be much more affected than they were when it was just the Writers Guild on strike – while some studios have already begun pushing future major releases back due to the writers’ strike, a SAG-AFTRA strike would shut down work in Hollywood almost entirely. If the union actors aren’t allowed to act, there’s simply nobody to put on camera.
Some studios may choose to try and hire scabs – non-union members who are willing to do the work – but most actors are smart enough not to fall for this trick, as it would mean being banned from the union for life. Many other actors who are not part of the union will simply stop working in solidarity, as they know the deal that SAG-AFTRA strikes will also set the standard for any deals they get in the future as well.
Indie films are the only things that would be able to get made during a double WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike – some foreign filmmakers are even hopeful that the thinner competition will put more eyes on some of their non-English-language projects.
Some independent filmmakers are even currently getting waivers from the WGA in order to be able to continue working through the strike, and SAG-AFTRA has already offered to extend the same courtesy to those who apply. However, getting funding for these will still be an issue, as most investors are now wary of the uncertain climate.
Say Goodbye to Comic-Con and Red Carpet Premieres
Related: Hollywood Prepares for Upheaval as Hundreds of Actors Demand a SAG-AFTRA Strike
Not only will the actual production of on-screen entertainment be shut down under a SAG-AFTRA strike – so too will any and all promotional events involving actors put on for fans by studios. This means that even more people would have to pull out of Comic-Con, and it also means that celebrity interviews publicizing new projects would also disappear.
A SAG-AFTRA strike will also affect journalists, though entertainment journalists (hello), who rely heavily on celebrity interviews and studio publicity as resources will likely be the most affected. All major broadcast journalists are members of SAG-AFTRA, but as this strike has to do specifically with contracts for TV and Film actors, broadcast news will be able to continue undisturbed.
One thing that might be disturbed, sadly, are film premiere parties that hardworking casts have been looking forward to – Barbie and Oppenheimer in particular – may only be attended by directors Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan, respectively. Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy, per union rules, would not be able to attend, as it would be considered promotion.
How Much Pressure Would a SAG-AFTRA Strike Put On Studios?
Related: Netflix Production Moves Forward Despite Strike
SAG-AFTRA extended the negotiation deadline until July 12 because everybody knows that a dual strike would be bad news, not only for Hollywood, but the whole of the United States, as the economy is already in bad shape, and Entertainment is one of the country’s biggest global moneymakers. However, if the strike were to happen, some companies may not be affected as badly as others.
Any corporation that can air sports during a SAG-AFTRA strike will have a huge buoy through the coming storm, as they will not only have continued revenue, but steady, predictable revenue from viewers. This includes companies like Disney, who own ESPN, and Fox Corp., a company that comprises all the Fox assets Disney did not buy, will also likely be relatively unaffected, as their TV lineup consists mainly of news and sports.
It will also be interesting, in the age of streaming, to see how the strike affects streamers, like Netflix, who have an extensive back-catalogue of shows and films for viewers to page through while they wait out the events of the strike.
It’s even possible that streamers will see an initial boom in viewership as regular networks run out of things to show to their audiences. It’s possible that the now-constant availability of content will prolong the strike, as consumer demand for new entertainment will likely be duller than during any strike in the past.
We should hope, for all our sakes, that SAG-AFTRA is able to strike a deal they are legitimately happy with before the new July 12 deadline. Not only would it likely be helpful to the WGA, who would now have some leverage to get their foot in the door, it would also help to avoid the entire country plunging even further into economic crisis.
Of course, what happens is ultimately up to the studio heads. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA have stated their terms, and they are quite reasonable: Pay all actors and writers enough to live middle class lifestyles, regulate new practices that cropped up during the pandemic, and most importantly, stop trying to replace them with AI.
Do you think SAG-AFTRA is going to be able to come to an agreement by July 12? What do you think will happen next? Let Inside the Magic know what you think in the comments.