SAG-AFTRA stalls again in negotiation talks as studios walkout

Major film and television studios have given up on negotiating with the union of their performers.

The Alliance Of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced Wednesday that it had walked away from talks with the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists after five days. According to the AMPTP, “After meaningful conversations, it is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction.”

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“We have made big, meaningful counters on our end, including completely transforming our revenue share proposal, which would cost the companies less than 57¢ per subscriber each year,” SAG-AFTRA wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, in response on Thursday. “They have rejected our proposals and refused to counter.”

AMPTP referred to the proposal from SAG-AFTRA as an offer that would “cost more than $800 million per year – which would create an untenable economic burden.” Instead, SAG-AFTRA accused the studios of “overstating it by 60%.”

The last offer from the AMPTP before it ended talks included a 35-year high percentage of wage increases, pension and health increases to the tune of $177 million, and advanced consent for the use of digital replicas via AI. However, SAG-AFTRA claimed that consent would be asked for on the first day of employment for a performer hired to a franchise.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, even non-SAG-AFTRA members have suffered the consequences of the strike as they cannot hire performers for projects. Evelien Kong is a podcast producer and director who says she’s been out of work as long as the actors have.

“Nothing is perfect; nobody’s going to agree with everything,” Kong told the Washington Examiner. “I’m grateful that it’s been pretty united and solid. Everybody wants to be able to live.”

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Meanwhile, the Writers Guild of America and the Director’s Guild of America have come to agreements with the AMPTP, with the latter not evolving into a strike at all. The AMPTP claimed to have “offered the same terms that were ratified by the DGA and WGA” when it came to “general wage increases, High-Budget [subscription video on demand] residuals, and viewership bonuses.”

SAG-AFTRA has been on strike for 90 days as of Thursday. However, even union members are allowed by strike rules to appear on talk shows, variety programs, televised competitions, and the like.