sag-avtra
Things are looking a little less scary for Hollywood this Halloween night.
On the 110th day of the 2023 actors’ strike, SAG-AFTRA and the Hollywood studios wrapped up their latest holiday negotiating session with a deal appearing to be within reach.
The two sides parted ways in the afternoon after spending a day dealing with AI issues and are scheduled to return to the negotiating table on Wednesday. While he expressed that the talks are moving in the right direction, a source at the studio says that it may take a few days to work out the remaining issues. Two additional sources on the studio side said that talks are generally progressing in a substantive manner, and that an agreement could be imminent. Several prominent actors said they have received word that a deal may be reached soon as well.
Just a day earlier, on Monday, the union’s bargaining committee sent a telegram to members saying a new agreement — and an end to the strike — may not be immediate. “Although conversations over the past week have been productive, we remain far apart on key issues,” the committee wrote to members. (On the other hand, a studio source expressed optimism that day that an agreement could be reached soon.) At that point, the two sides have not yet reached a final agreement on contract language around artificial intelligence and trying actors. To participate in a portion of the project’s flowing revenues.
And in A Video message To SAG-AFTRA members on Tuesday, the union’s national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland emphasized that the union needs to continue working until it is satisfied. “While I said I was cautiously optimistic, that means we have to keep the pressure on,” he said. “We have to keep pushing because there are really important parts of this agreement that haven’t been reached yet and need to be reached. AI, for example, has to be right. This deal can’t happen without a fair deal on AI.” “.
The two sides are facing pressure to reach a new three-year agreement in a timely manner. Studios have expressed to the guild that their 2024 film slate will be in jeopardy if an agreement is not reached this week. Meanwhile, a group of high-profile actors met with union and studio representatives earlier in October in an attempt to jumpstart talks. On October 26, an open letter signed by thousands of SAG-AFTRA members encouraged negotiating leaders not to back down: “We haven’t come all this way to collapse now,” the letter said.
Rebecca Keegan and Kim Masters contributed reporting.
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