Hollywood Shuts Down as Actors Union Votes to Strike

Hollywood actors represented by SAG-AFTRA have authorized a strike and work stoppage after talks with the AMPTP have broken down over a fair contract.

By Nicole Drum

The actor's guild SAG-AFTRA is officially on strike. On Wednesday, negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) officially broke down with no deal in place, prompting the actors guild to go forward with the decision to strike once the contract officially expired at 11:59 p.m. PT on July 12th. The contract between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP had originally been scheduled to expire on June 30th but was extended through July 12th for continued negotiations. In May, the SAG-AFTRA national board unanimously agreed to send an authorization vote to members with the recommendation that members vote to authorize a strike should one be necessary and 97.91 percent of members voted in favor to authorize. The strike will officially begin tonight at midnight, with picketing starting on the morning of Friday, July 14.

"Yesterday our union celebrated the 90th anniversary of the incorporation of Screen Actors Guild," Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator said during a press conference. "During our nearly century long existence we've fought for and achieved countless gains for working actors. Today, we embark on a new important chapter in our unions history. Earlier this morning, the SAG-AFTRA national board convened following four weeks of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television producers in a meeting, because AMPTP remains unwilling to offer a fair deal on key issues essential to protecting the livelihoods of working actors and performers. SAG AFTRA as national board unanimously voted to issue a strike order against the studios and streamers."

Negotiations had still been ongoing leading up to the deadline, though little progress was made between the two sides. On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA agreed to the AMPTP's request to bring in federal mediators in an attempt to break the deadlock in those negotiations ahead of the deadline. In a statement at the time, SAG-AFTRA said that they were "not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement."

"We will not be distracted from negotiating in good faith to secure a fair and just deal by the expiration of our agreement. We are committed to the negotiating process and will explore and exhaust every possible opportunity to make a deal, however we are not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement," the statement reads.

The statement continued, "SAG-AFTRA represents performers. We are here to get a deal that ensures our members can earn a living wage in our expansive industry we help make possible with our work. The AMPTP can make this happen at any time. They know what our members need and when they bring that to the table, we will be listening, but it's important to know – time is running out."

SAG-AFTRA now joins the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in striking against the AMPTP. WGA's contract with the producers and studios expired at the end of April and the writers strike is now heading into its 73rd day with a recent report suggesting that the AMPTP plans to stall negotiations with the writers until this fall as a tactic to attempt to force the union to sign a new deal.

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With both SAG-AFTRA and the WGA both now on strike, this effectively completely shuts down Hollywood. While the writers strike had already shutdown or delayed a number of film and television projects, the actors striking will shut down nearly all remaining productions still in progress, effectively grinding Hollywood to a halt. Additionally, this strike will have impact on other aspects of entertainment as well, including the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con as actors have been encouraged to skip the pop culture event should the strike go into effect — which it now has.

Keep checking back with ComicBook.com for updates on both the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.

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