Union rally held in Los Angeles as part of the 2023 Writers' Strike

Source: Jim Ruymen / UPI / Shutterstock

Union rally held in Los Angeles as part of the 2023 Writers’ Strike

SAG-AFTRA and Alliance Of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) will return to the negotiating table on Thursday after the parties rescheduled Wednesday’s session for the union to review an offer on bonuses and minimum compensation.

SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee needed time to consider a counter offer by Donna Langley (NBCUniversal), Bob Iger (Disney) David Zaslav (Warner Bros Discovery) and Ted Sarandos (Netflix) believed to centre on enhanced bonuses related to their most-watched streaming shows, and increased minimum rates.

However it appears there was no proposal to offer SAG-AFTRA members a share of total streaming revenue.

On Wednesday evening SAG-AFTRA sent out a note to members which read, ”Our committee spent today reviewing the latest AMPTP counter offer. We will be meeting across the table with the CEOs tomorrow.”

Talks resumed this week after a break from earlier in the month when the union said the AMPTP party walked away after it requested 57 cents per global streaming subscription each year.

AMPTP said the measure would cost its members more than $800m annually, which SAG-AFTRA said was an inflated estimate.

The actors have been on strike for 104 days since the July 14 work stoppage began.

It is understood the Hollywood CEO’s have laid out concerns that should the strike continue much longer shows will get cancelled. Dozens of shows and features are on hold while SAG-AFTRA are prohibited by their union from working for struck companies.

The union has repeatedly argued their its of the economic reality argument, namely that the vast majority of their 160,000 members struggle to make a living and afford health insurance.

The strike has thrown the packaging business into disarray. Talent agents have by and large played it by the book and have not been sending scripts to clients unless a production has a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement in place.

The fallout will come into sharper focus when the AFM kicks off in Santa Monica next week.

Besides bonuses and minimum compensation, the other bargaining point that remains divisive is regulation of AI.

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