Last week saw the ongoing negotiations between SAG-AFTRA, the actorsā guild and the AMPTP (the alliance of studios) break down, with no clear end in sight yet for the ongoing strike action from actors. It came as something of a surprise to many, who assumed that in the wake of forging a deal with the writersā guild, the studios would be able to quickly find some common ground with the actorsā union too. However, that didnāt come to pass. Reports stated that the two sides were still very far apart on residual payments and AI regulation. As far as the former goes, the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) were so exasperated by the actorsā guildās demands that they broke off talks and walked away from the negotiating table. Being labelled as āgreedyā by an alliance of corporations is hardly a damning insult to have to bear, although things did get tougher later in the week when George Clooney and a group of other A-list actors offered to put in the cash shortfall themselves to end the strike. Whilst well-intentioned, it put the guild in a difficult spot of having to reject the strike-ending offer whilst many members of their union continue to be exist in a state of financial hardship.
Read more: As Hollywood strikes near their conclusion, UK crews are still suffering
As the strike enters its 100th day, it has been announced that talks will begin again tomorrow, which is good news. When negotiations between the writers and the studios broke down, the AMPTP walked away from the table for weeks and weeks, so a quick return to discussions shows there is an appetite on both sides to get a deal done, even if the they are still pretty far apart on a couple of key issues. One side, perhaps both. are going to need to capitulate but the longer this goes on, the more pressure the SAG-AFTRA leadership will be under to get a deal which significantly improves upon the one agreed by the writersā guild. Weāll let you know more on this one as we hear it. Deadline ā Thank you for visiting! If youād like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website: Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here. Buy our Film Stories and Film Junior print magazines here. Become a Patron here.