The SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike has been evolving on a day-to-day basis — and it looks like it has hit a major new development. On Wednesday, a report rom The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee is meeting to talk about the latest offer from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP. The union negotiating committee, which consists of 17 voting members and 17 alternates, already met for ten hours on Tuesday to discuss the deal. According to sources cited in the report, these meetings involved SAG-AFTRA reviewing their final proposal to send to AMPTP president Carol Lombardini, reportedly concerning a minor adjustment to the deal’s artificial intelligence specifics.
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The meeting’s outcome could reportedly result in a conclusive vote on the deal, which would then be followed by a statement of support to the larger SAG-AFTRA body. Although there is no clear timeline, sources are reportedly optimistic that the final vote and deal could take place on Wednesday, and would be a unanimous vote.
When Did the SAG-AFTRA Strike Start?
The SAG-AFTRA strike officially began on July 14, 2023. In a statement tied to the strike announcement in July, SAG-AFTRA representatives revealed that the strike is commencing after four weeks of negotiations with the AMPTP, and an existing negotiation extension from June 30th to July 12th. Back in May, SAG-AFTRA’s national board unanimously agreed to send an authorization vote to members, with and 97.91 percent of members ultimately voting in favor to authorize.
“Yesterday our union celebrated the 90th anniversary of the incorporation of Screen Actors Guild,” Crabtree-Ireland 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.”
What Are SAG-AFTRA’s AI Worries?
The issue of artificial intelligence has played a role in both the SAG-AFTRA strike and the Writers Guild of America writers’ strike, which successfully wrapped with a deal in late September. As far as actors go, the worry has concerned performers being digitally-scanned and inserted into projects, potentially without their consent. Some comments have suggested that some studios wanted to use these digital likenesses in perpetuity.
“This ‘groundbreaking’ AI proposal that they gave us yesterday: they propose that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day’s pay, and their company should own that scan their image, their likeness and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation,” SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland revealed in July. “So if you think that’s a groundbreaking proposal, I suggest you think again.”
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