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July 14, 2023
On July 14, simultaneous mass demonstrations were held in Los Angeles and New York, featuring the best-known actors in Hollywood. These are the actors who belong to the union of SAG-AFTRA (for its acronym in English).
The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is an American union representing approximately 160,000 actors, broadcasters, television and radio journalists, dancers, disc jockeys, news writers and editors, television presenters, puppeteers, artists record labels, singers, stuntmen, voice actors, and other media professionals.
It was a surprise for everyone to see our favorite actors holding signs and marching in the streets with very casual clothes. It is clearly a circumstance in which we are not used to seeing them. But what led them to star in this extreme situation?
These great Hollywood stars felt the need to take to the streets and support the demands of the actors' union.
Among the most urgent demands is the use of AI to replicate the actors on screen. But, in addition, the actors also claim for salary increases and modifications in the formulation of employment contracts.
The leading character
The president of SAG-AFTRA, Fran Drescher, announced at a press conference that the conditions were not in place to reach an agreement between the parties and that, therefore, the members of the union would initiate a general strike to express their indignation to the big fishes of Hollywood. The actor's community assures that their basic right was suffering systematic violations by these huge producers.
"This is a historic moment. If we don't stand our ground now, we're all going to be in trouble. We're all going to be in danger of being replaced by machines and big business"
-Drescher declared Thursday while announcing the start of a strike by America's main actors' union.
The actress assured at the conference that, during the negotiations, some production companies tried to include a proposal that allowed studios, for a single fee equivalent to a day's payment, to have exclusive and indefinite rights over the images of the actors.
"It's disgusting. I'm ashamed of them"
-The actress added in the speech that went viral on social media.
On Thursday the 13th, the SAG-AFTRA bargaining committee voted unanimously to recommend a strike to the union's national board.
With more than 97.9% of votes in favor, it was agreed that the union should join a strike that a smaller union has maintained since the beginning of May: that of screenwriters (the Writers Guild of America, which has 11,500 members).
Both groups clash with the powerful Alliance of Film and Television Producers (AMPTP), and in particular with the new "kings" of Hollywood: streaming companies such as Netflix, Disney, Amazon Prime, Paramount and Warner Bros.
In his speech on Thursday, Drescher called these companies "disgusting" for refusing to share more of their profits with the people who create the content they broadcast.
Aftermath of the strike
As part of the rules set by the union, actors cannot participate in film or television productions and cannot participate in promotional work, such as press tours, film premieres and events.
In this way, it is likely that several of our favorite series will be caught in the middle of this conflict and will not be able to continue filming new episodes.
Important projects, such as the filming of the last season of the popular Netflix series 'Stranger Things', will be stalled until the parties reach an agreement.
Movies and series that have already finished filming and are now in post-production will not be directly affected by the stoppage, but many other productions have had to delay their respective release dates.
Although the new Marvel film "Captain America: Brave New World" had already finished filming, the film has been left in a kind of limbo after the announcement of the stoppage. Normally, the movies of the Marvel universe usually need several shots for the same scene, and they are movies in which last-minute corrections require the direct presence of the actors. The stoppage directly affected the recordings of these "reshoots" for which the film has also had to postpone its release date.
Other highly anticipated film productions forced to go on hiatus due to the strike include Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice 2," Marvel Studios' "Deadpool 3," Ridley Scott's "Gladiator 2," the martial arts sequel "Deadly Kombat 2", the Tom Cruise action film "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two", Mufasa: The Lion King and Avatar 3 and 4.
How long will the strike last?
Strikes are a form of peaceful struggle that are generally used to defend some interest or right that is believed to be in danger for a certain group of people. Although these forceful measures do not usually last too long, they can cause big problems in the short term.
The conflict is concluded only when the disputing parties reach an agreement.
No one knows how long it will take the screenwriters' and actors' unions to reach an agreement with the Alliance of Film and Television Producers.
The solution to the conflict seems to be far away. In fact, several sources assured that the union maintains an intransigent position and, apparently, will not give in so easily to the offers of the representatives of the industry.
The truth is that the prolongation of the conflict will have serious economic consequences for the big Hollywood production companies and, obviously, also for us, those of us who love an afternoon marathoning series and adore going out to the movies.
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