SAG-AFTRA, AMPTP to resume talks on Tuesday October 24

On the 100th day of the SAG-AFTRA strike the union and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said on Saturday the parties will resume talks on a new three-year deal on Tuesday (October 24).

The parties announced the development in a joint statement and said, “Several executives from AMPTP member companies will be in attendance.”

Talks broke down earlier this month, shattering what had been an optimistic mood after days of negotiations, after the Hollywood companies rejected a revenue share proposal by the union which it said would cost the companies less than 57 cents per subscriber each year.

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

The parties remain some distance apart on the matters of revenue share, minimum compensation, and regulation of AI.

Hollywood heads Donna Langley (NBCUniversal), Ted Sarandos (Netflix), David Zaslav (Warner Bros. Discovery), and Bob Iger (Disney) had convened with their AMPTP negotiator colleagues and SAG-AFTRA for several days in a row in the last round of talks.

It was hoped their presence would focus minds and bring about a resolution to the long-running work stoppage, however that was not the case and tensions remain between both sides.

Speaking in a Netflix Q3 earnings interview last week Sarandos intimated the union was responsible for breaking the momentum of talks with the 57 cents proposal.

“We want nothing more than to resolve this and get everyone back to work,” Sarandos said. “But then at the very end of our last session together the Guild presented this new demand on top of everything for a per-subscriber levy unrelated to viewing or success and this really broke our momentum, unfortunately.”

Speaking to Screen the following day SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said the proposal should not have triggered a “walkout” by AMPTP.

He also disputed the characterisation by AMPTP and Sarandos of the guild’s latest proposal when he said, “Compensating workers for their work is not a tax, it’s not a levy; it’s what responsible employers do. And so when we negotiate for fair compensation for our members nothing about that is a levy.”

Late last week it emerged that a group of A-listers led by George Clooney had proposed removing caps on membership dues as a way of bringing funds into the union’s coffers which could be used to increase member benefits. Clooney et al also mooted a revised residuals model whereby lowest-paid union members would be first in line to get their money.

The union considered the proposal, which some in Hollywood said was a divisive move by the Clooney camp to go round SAG-AFTRA and publicise their plan to end the strike.

In a statement on Friday the SAG-AFTRA negotiating team praised the “generous concept” adding: “It is in no way related to and would have no bearing on this present contract or even as a subject of collective bargaining.

“It is, in fact, prohibited by Federal labour law. For example, our Pension and Health plans are funded exclusively from employer contributions. It also doesn’t speak to the scale of the overall package.”

The ongoing strike, coupled with the now-ended Writers Guild of America work stoppage, is estimated by non-partisan think tank Milken Institute to have cost the California economy alone an estimated $5bn since May.

Tens of thousands of actors have been without pay since their union went on strike on July 14, and studio and streamer production involving SAG-AFTRA members has come to a standstill. SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher has said 86% of members cannot afford the $26,474 required to qualify for health benefits.

Independent productions which have secured a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement have been proceeding, although a backlog in the approvals process has frustrated producers, who worry it has made it hard to assemble packages.

This means that, with just over one week to go until 2023 American Film Market (AFM) kicks off in Santa Monica, there is a severe scarcity of new packages.

Even if SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP were to reach a deal this week the union’s 160,000 members would need to ratify a tentative agreement. AFM runs October 31-November 5.

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