Take 2: Actors, Hollywood studios try to script a deal, amid strikes
The restart of negotiations was announced in a joint statement Saturday from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains on behalf of the studios, and SAG-AFTRA, the actors union.
The renewal of discussions is welcome news for an entertainment industry that has largely been at a standstill for months because of dual strikes by writers, who walked out in May, and the actors, who joined them in July. On Oct.
9, the Writers Guild of America ratified its new contract, and there had been hope that a new deal with the actors would follow.
The strikes have been devastating financially for the industry. The California economy has lost an estimated $5 billion.
But an agreement with the actors would mean getting back to work without losing the entirety of the fall television schedule or having next summer's moviegoing season upended.
Instead, conversations between the alliance and the actors union fell apart Oct. 11.
The studios balked at a new proposal that would involve a viewership bonus that they said would cost them close to $800 million.
After the discussions ended, the union's chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, said: «Their position was the only way they'll keep talking is if we give them a whole new set of counters. They're not going to respond to what we gave them.
They just want us to go back and start over and that's not going to happen.»
Like their counterparts in the screenwriters guild, leaders of the actors union have called this moment «existential.» They say the streaming era has had a negative impact on their working lives and their compensation. They are seeking wage increases, as well as protections around the use of artificial intelligence.
This past week, a group of
