SAG-AFTRA, Studios to Return to Negotiations on Wednesday

SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood studios are set to return to the bargaining desk on Wednesday after negotiations over a brand new three-year union contract resumed on Tuesday.

“Right this moment, the CEOs got here again to the desk. We’re scheduled to proceed talks with them tomorrow,” the SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical negotiating committee mentioned in a message to members on Tuesday. The group then cautioned members “don’t consider something you learn within the press” except it comes straight from the union and requested them to “maintain exhibiting up on the picket traces and make your voices heard across the nation.”

The Hollywood Reporter has requested the Alliance of Movement Image and Tv Producers for remark.

After a pause of practically two weeks, union negotiators sat down with studio leaders Ted Sarandos (Netflix), Bob Iger (Disney), Donna Langley (NBCUniversal) and David Zaslav (Warner Bros. Discovery) at SAG-AFTRA’s nationwide headquarters on Tuesday. After the union offered its newest counteroffer on Oct. 11, the administration aspect was anticipated to submit a distinct package deal of proposals on Tuesday.

Round noon, studio leaders Sarandos, Iger, Langley and Zaslav have been noticed lunching at L.A. hotspot Republique, which is lower than 10 blocks away from the union’s workplaces.

This newest assembly comes at a tense time. Studios have grown more and more involved over the impression of a probably prolonged strike on the 2024 film and broadcast calendar, a supply shut to those firms advised THR. The union, in the meantime, has been underneath stress from members, a few of whom are family names. Earlier than each side received again to the desk, a bunch together with Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon met with SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Eire and president Fran Drescher over the course of a number of Zoom conferences to try to interrupt by the stalemate that had solidified between the union and the Alliance of Movement Image and Tv Producers. A number of A-listers additionally labored their studio contacts final week in an try to maneuver the negotiations ahead.

When talks final broke off on Oct. 11, the main sticking level was the union’s streaming viewership proposal, which makes an attempt to cost streaming providers 57 cents per subscriber to create a pool of funds that could possibly be distributed to members whose work seems on these providers. The AMPTP had mentioned the proposal would create an “untenable financial burden,” whereas SAG-AFTRA maintained that such a provision is important to complement downward stress on members’ wages for streaming tasks. The perimeters additionally remained far aside on AI guardrails for leisure and minimal fee will increase for the subsequent three years. It stays to be seen how a lot progress the events have made on all these points up to now.