Striking actors vow resolve, studios balk at latest demands
By Omar Younis and Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Striking Hollywood actors vowed to hold firm on Thursday in their push for higher compensation and other gains as studios rejected a union demand for a bonus tied to the number of streaming TV subscribers.
Negotiators for Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and other media companies said late Wednesday they were suspending talks after reviewing the latest offer from the SAG-AFTRA actors union. The move dashed hopes of a quick resolution after a deal with film and television writers.
At picket lines on Thursday, actors said they were disappointed that talks had collapsed but would continue pushing for pay increases, protections around artificial intelligence and other workplace improvements.
«This is the part of the movie where the hero gets knocked down and you think they're out,» Jason George, a member of the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee, said outside Netflix. «And this is the part where you double down and you come back and win the day.»
Members of SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 actors and other media professionals, have been on strike against film and TV studios since July. The union resumed negotiations with the studios last week after the Writers Guild of America (WGA) ended its own five-month work stoppage.
The two sides are at odds over actors' desire to benefit from the success of shows and movies on streaming services, such as the residuals that actors received during decades of broadcast television and reruns. SAG-AFTRA had initially asked that cast members receive a share of streaming revenue but changed the proposal to a per-subscriber bonus.
Netflix Co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos, who had joined the talks along with other media
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