Studios Declare SAG-AFTRA Talks “Suspended”

After two weeks of intense negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the studios, talks fell apart last night and the AMPTP announced that further conversation has been “suspended.” Here’s AMPTP president Carol Lombardini’s statement:

After meaningful conversations, it is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction.

The crux seems to not just be about AI, but, rather, streaming revenue for the actors. Most shows and movies that become popular on streaming services do not compensate SAG-AFTRA actors.

During negotiations, SAG-AFTRA had proposed using a content valuation tool, from third-party data research firm Parrot Analytics, to determine the amount of revenue actors could receive. Their estimate would be around 2% of the revenue contribution for the program to the actors. The AMPTP doesn’t want this.

So, we’re now looking at this strike prolonging well into next year. This also means no actors campaigning, shilling, for votes during awards season. Maybe their work will actually do the talking this time around. The 2024 release calendar is also now very much in doubt. Hey, at least we’ll be focusing more on foreign and indie films next year.