As SAG-AFTRA members took to the picket lines in the United States on Friday for the first day of the Guild’s strike and Hollywood ceased productions around the world, the independent community was awaiting further details from the Guild about waivers.
At time of writing a number of producers told Screen they were expecting to hear from SAG-AFTRA by next week. The Guild had not responded for a comment at time of writing.
It previously emerged that the Guild was preparing waivers or interim agreements for purely independent projects which do not have any connection to any studio, streamer or distributor which has been represented in the recent negotiations by Alliance Of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
This means that any producer hoping to get a waiver cannot even have licensed a single territory to a studio or streamer.
The waiver will enable a production to get bonded – the guarantee to a bank that a production will come in on time and on budget, which is a lynchpin of the production finance process.
However for the waiver to apply, the producer must agree to whatever terms SAG-AFTRA demands from AMPTP. Producers who spoke to Screen said until those terms were clear, they would not be comfortable agreeing to a deal sight unseen.
Hollywood has closed down not only its US-based productions but those shooting in the UK, Europe and elsewhere such as Deadpool 3, Venom 3, and the Gladiator sequel.
As SAG-AFTRA’s 160,000 members joined Writers Guild of America’s 11,500 members who have been on strike since May 2, there was a palpable sense of defiance.
SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, who could barely contain her rage against corporate greed when she announced the strike on Thursday (and lambasted Disney CEO Bob Iger on Friday), joined the picket lines outside the studios and streamers in Los Angeles.
Other celebrities who took to the streets in Los Angeles and New York were Ted Lasso creator Jason Sudeikis, Sean Astin, Susan Sarandon, Timothy Olyphant, Josh Gad, and Patton Oswalt.
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