Actors on Strike Optimistic After Writers' Strike Ends
SAG-AFTRA members are "cautiously optimistic" after the WGA struck a new deal with Hollywood producers.
After the Writers Guild of America struck a new deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers earlier this fall, SAG-AFTRA members are optimistic the second Hollywood strike could come to an end in the near future. According to one new trade report, the sentiment along the picket line is "cautiously optimistic" as negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP pick back up. Deadline's report comes from speaking with a handful of actors picketing, including Jon Cryer.
"When you lose your middle tier of performer, you hollow out the entire industry," Cryer told the trade. "You make your TV shows without a real professionalized base of people and if everybody's forced to do this as a hobby, your industry collapses. That's why I have always felt like that we were actually on the same side as the AMPTP. We want this to be a healthy industry. We want them to succeed. We want them to make record profits, that's fantastic, share them with us and that will allow us to have a huge professional group of actors at your beck and call."
Stumptown star Michael Ealy added that he hopes the WGA deal will "propel" the AMPTP into striking a deal with the actors' union.
"It's not hard to maintain optimism. It's ultimately something you have to do. These things have been resolved in the past. They can be resolved now," Ealy said. "It's just a matter of coming together. I think the most important thing is to not end up like Congress, where nobody wants to talk."
The actor added, "As long as we can talk, then I think we can work this out. It's when we become Republicans and Democrats and don't want to talk, that's when it becomes a problem. But as long as we're talking, I think we can get to the bottom of this."
The actors' strike has now be underway for 82 days. The WGA strike ended the last week of September after writers spent 148 days on the picket line.
