2 months ago
SAG-AFTRA and nan studios will support talking beyond nan midnight Friday statement deadline, arsenic they stay astatine likelihood connected issues for illustration streaming residuals and artificial intelligence.
The national has agreed to widen nan negotiations to July 12, a root confirmed.
Negotiations person been underway since June 7, and nan 2 sides person exchanged proposals and had lengthy meetings successful nan past fewer days. But sources person said they stay acold isolated connected respective cardinal issues.
The anticipation is that nan 2 sides will return to nan array connected Saturday, and past return nan adjacent 3 days disconnected owed to nan July 4 vacation earlier resuming connected Wednesday.
The union, which represents 160,000 performers, could still telephone a onslaught if nan talks break down.
In a letter this week, much than 1,000 members urged national leaders to telephone a onslaught if they cannot execute a “transformative deal.”
In a video connection past weekend, national president Fran Drescher said nan talks had been “extremely productive,” and promised to scope a “seminal” agreement.
SAG-AFTRA is seeking extended AI protections and a streaming residual look that would salary a prize for top-performing shows. The guild is besides looking to statement up its pension and wellness plans, which were forced to dramatically raise eligibility requirements during nan pandemic.
Many SAG-AFTRA members person already joined nan Writers Guild of America connected nan picket lines successful a show of solidarity. The WGA has been connected onslaught for astir 2 months, and an actors’ onslaught would halt almost each scripted movie and TV accumulation that has not already been unopen down by nan writers.
Some low-budget independent productions could beryllium granted support to continue. But overmuch overseas accumulation — which has been mostly spared by nan writers onslaught — would unopen down.
It is not different for SAG-AFTRA negotiations to agelong retired a fewer days past nan deadline. In some 2014 and 2017, nan negotiators extended nan talks for 3 further days.
In this case, SAG-AFTRA had a short model to discuss — conscionable 3 weeks and 2 days. The talks typically return astatine slightest a afloat month, and sometimes longer. The national negotiators besides came to nan array pinch an unusually agelong agenda.
SAG-AFTRA has not called a onslaught connected its basal movie and TV statement since 1980. That onslaught lasted 94 days. Then arsenic now, a cardinal rumor was residual payments.
The national has projected utilizing Parrot Analytics, a third-party information firm, to measurement nan occurrence of shows, pinch nan astir celebrated shows generating a higher residual. The studios, represented by nan Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, has resisted that idea. The studios person besides refused to guidelines compensation connected their ain viewership metrics, which are considered proprietary and are not shared pinch creators.
The national is not seeking to prohibition nan usage of AI to make performances. But it is seeking to require that immoderate usage of an actors’ image and likeness beryllium done pinch that actor’s support and pinch pay. The national is besides seeking to restrict AI training.
