Hollywood studios/streamers delivered a new contract offer — their “Last, Best and Final Offer”– to the striking SAG actors on Friday (Day 113 of the impasse), with a zoom meeting scheduled for this afternoon, according to Deadline: Hollywood.
Update: Executives from all 8 negotiating studios/streamers of the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) were present on the Saturday zoom call. SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild) negotiators asked for more time to go through the offer.
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The 8 negotiating members of the AMPTP are Netflix, Disney-ABC, NBC Universal, Paramount-CBS, Warner Bros Discovery, Sony, Amazon and Apple.
Halloween headstone in Vancouver.
Related: AMPTP Make the Deal! Headstone in Vancouver. End of SAG Strike in Sight?
SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July 14th.
At issue:
The big shift into streaming made this year’s contract talks an inflection point for Hollywood creatives. The actors’ demands are similar to those of the writers: :higher minimum pay, higher streaming compensation and protection from generative artificial intelligence (AI) replacing the work of their members (by prohibiting an actor’s digital likeness and voice from being used without consent or pay).
At some point, the jig is up. You cannot keep being dwindled and marginalized and disrespected and dishonored. The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI. This is a moment of history. If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble. — SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher.
Since SAG-AFTRA took the picket lines on July 14th, the actors guild has put pressure on the 8 negotiating studio/streamers aka the struck companies by allowing its members to work on other productions as long as those companies sign an interim agreement.
Scores of independent production companies have signed SAG-AFTRA interim agreements.
For example, Hallmark signed a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement that allowed guild actors to work on season 11 of When Calls the Heart, which has been filming in Vancouver/Langley since mid-July and wraps soon.
The Latest.
Minimum wages:
AMPTP’s offer rose from 5% to 7% increase in the first year of a proposed three-year contract and the SAG demand dropped from 15% to 11% to 9%. What is the new AMPTP offer?
Streaming Compensation:
SAG-AFTRA started out wanting 2 percent of the total revenue generated by streaming shows then pivoted to $1 payments for each streaming subscriber after the AMPTP rejected the revenue proposal outright. What is the new AMPTP offer?
Artificial Intelligence:
SAG-AFTRA is worried that A.I. can be used to create digital replicas of their likenesses (or that performances could be digitally altered) without approval or compensation. DefiningWhat is the new AMPTP offer?