Extract from ABC News
Hollywood's actors will join writers on the picket line, with the Screen Actors Guild announcing a joint strike.
Key points:
- Actors are striking over pay demands and the unregulated use of AI
- It will be the first time since 1960 writers and actors have picketed together
- The last SAG-AFTRA strike was in the 1980s
The Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) — said companies at the other end of the bargaining table had refused to engage with the union on some topics.
Union president Fran Drescher — who starred in the 1990s sitcom The Nanny — said "we are the victims here".
"We are in jeopardy of being replaced by machines," she said on Thursday.
"I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us.
"I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things, how they plead poverty that they're losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions to their CEOs. It is disgusting."
It will be the first time since 1960 that both actors and writers have picketed film and television productions in the United States.
The last strike for actors from film and television shows was in the 1980s.
More than 1,000 members of the union, including Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and Bob Odenkirk, have signalled their willingness to strike.
The stakes in the negotiations included both base and residual pay, which actors say has been undercut by inflation and the streaming ecosystem, and the threat of unregulated use of artificial intelligence.
"At a moment when streaming and AI and digital was so prevalent, it has disembowelled the industry that we once knew," Drescher said.
"When I did 'The Nanny' everybody was part of the gravy train. Now it's a vacuum."
SAG-AFTRA executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said union leadership voted for the work stoppage hours after their contract expired and talks broke off with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The alliance represents employers including Disney, Netflix, Amazon and others.
"A strike is an instrument of last resort," he said.
The looming strike also cast a shadow over the upcoming 75th Emmy Awards, whose nominations were announced on Thursday.
The union will begin the strike at midnight.
Reuters
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