SAG-AFTRA’s A-Listers Attempt Gambit to Assist Finish Actors’ Strike

George Clooney and a gaggle of different A-listers have introduced a daring proposal to SAG-AFTRA leaders suggesting that the union take away the cap on dues for high-earning members with a view to infuse extra funds into the union’s coffers over the course of three years.

The thought behind the proposal is for main stars like Clooney to pay extra in dues than is at present required (the cap is at present at $1 million in earnings) with a view to assist bridge the hole between what the union is looking for in 2023 negotiations with leisure studios and what the Alliance of Movement Footage and Tv Producers is prepared to provide. The proposal additionally seeks to get lower-income members paid in residuals earlier than higher-income members.

The group of A-listers met with nationwide govt director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Eire and president Fran Drescher to supply the thought, and people leaders informed its negotiating committee concerning the proposition in broad strokes on Wednesday evening, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Deadline was the primary to report the information.

THR has reached out to SAG-AFTRA for remark.

The union’s workings are complicated and the proposals are very broad. As an example, solely the SAG-AFTRA Nationwide Conference (which subsequent meets this weekend) has the authority to alter the union’s dues system. And the celebs additionally seem like proposing that the dues cap be eliminated for all members, not simply their famous person cohort. “It’s superior that they need to be useful. There are structural points with what they’re proposing that isn’t how our contracts and union works. We’d love for them to become involved as captains proper now,” mentioned one SAG-AFTRA insider.

The proposal follows a Zoom name that main SAG-AFTRA members participated in with prime union leaders on Tuesday to study extra about what led to the present deadlock in negotiations with the AMPTP. Scarlett Johansson, Kerry Washington, Tyler Perry, Bradley Cooper, Meryl Streep, Robert DeNiro, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Emma Stone, Laura Dern and Ryan Reynolds had been all current on Tuesday’s name, a supply accustomed to the assembly has informed THR.

The celebs’ proposal seeks to deliver extra revenue to the union, however doesn’t tackle the actual sticking factors within the negotiation at current. The union and leisure studios are at a standstill proper now on SAG-AFTRA’s streaming viewership proposal, which seeks to cost streaming platforms 57 cents a subscriber a yr to supply a fund that might additional compensate casts with work on these platforms. SAG-AFTRA’s present proposal, which the AMPTP has thus far resisted, would value studios about $480 million a yr. In different phrases, the union is looking for to create a brand new income stream for members within the streaming period counting on subscriber depend, whereas the businesses are resisting setting this new precedent at a time when most streaming platforms are usually not but worthwhile.

The events additionally proceed to have disagreements on points together with rules on using AI in leisure and raises to minimal wage charges. The studios keep that their present bundle of proposals is valued at over $1 billion.

Extra to return.

Rebecca Keegan contributed reporting.