For the first time in over 60 years, Hollywood actors have joined the writers’ strike, shutting down television and film production after talks with major studios fell through.
About it writes Financial Times.
The decision to join the writers’ picket comes after SAG-AFTRA, a labor union representing more than 160,000 Hollywood television and film actors, voted unanimously to recommend a strike after a deadline for contract negotiations.
“This is the first strike of actors and writers since 1960, when they took to the streets because television networks paid too high fees for films. At that time, Ronald Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild, the predecessor of SAG-AFTRA,” the statement reads. message.
Negotiations between film studios and the actors’ union are focusing on the same problematic issues that led to the writers’ strike. Particularly controversial were compensation rules for films sold to streaming services and contractual guarantees for the use of artificial intelligence in film and television.
Disney director Bob Iger said it was “the worst time in the world” to shut down operations as the industry tries to fully recover from the pandemic.
Previously, some 98% of SAG-AFTRA members who voted supported a possible strike when a vote was held last month with more than 60,000 performers.
In addition, last month more than 300 leading Hollywood stars, including Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep, wrote to SAG-AFTRA management in support of a possible strike.
