The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is facing a fight against The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). SAG-AFTRA’s strike is fighting for the rights of actors throughout the industry, but what are the key points of their mission? Here are the five bullet points about what the union wants from studios.
The AMPTP accused of placing shareholders above creators: In their official strike documents, SAG-AFTRA claims the AMPTP, which represents Apple, Amazon/MGM, NBCUniversal, DISNEY/ABC/FOX, Paramount/CBS, Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony and Netflix, “are committed to prioritizing shareholders and Wall Street” over the actors. For instance, SAG-AFTRA states that during its negotiations with AMPTP, the union asked for 11 percent general wage increase during the first year of the new terms so members could “recover from record inflation during the previous contract term.” However, AMPTP came back with just five percent, despite knowing that it wouldn’t help actors recover from inflation. SAG-AFTRA added that AMPTP’s five percent proposal was also with the studios’ awareness that it would be likely actors “will still be working for less than [their] 2020 wages in 2026.”
The actors also want a comprehensive plan from studios about how actors can participate in streaming revenue, since under the current model, actors are largely kept out of making residuals from their roles. Because the streaming model doesn’t work like the standard syndicated television model, in which actors are able to make residuals on future airings of their work, actors are left with minimal, if any, royalties from their roles. However, the studios disagreed to create a model that would allow actors to have a livable income.
Actors want protections from AI: Aside from wage protections, actors want to make sure another existential threat–artificial intelligence–is addressed fully. The actors union wants studios to create a clear framework of consent when it comes to protecting actors’ images and performances. It also wanted to ensure “fair compensation” for when a “digital replica” is made of an actors’ performance using AI. However, The studios countered with wanting to scan a background performance, pay the performer for half a day’s work, then use that performance and likeness in perpetuity without consent. The studios also wanted to be able to change the dialogue said by main actors, or even add new scenes, without the actors’ consent. Studios were also interested in using an actor’s likeness, image, and performances “to train new generative AI systems without consent or compensation.”
Actors want equity in the hair and makeup department: Something as simple as hair and makeup that suited actors while addressing differing hair and skin types somehow became an impasse between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP. While the actors union wanted consultations with hair and makeup professionals to create equity for performers of color, as well as ensure that those professionals had proper equipment and tools for their job, AMPTP countered that they would do this for principal actors, but not for background actors.
Actors want healthcare and retirement security: SAG claims that contribution caps have not been raised in 40 years, which puts healthcare and pension plans in jeopardy. Raising the caps would account for inflation and allow all actors to receive equal contributions. AMPTP countered against this, and allegedly went as far as to claim that background child performers under 14 years of age living in the West Coast area didn’t deserve pension contributions, and cited this as the reason for not paying contributions since 1992.
Actors want better working conditions and leniency when accepting new acting jobs: Part of what keeps working actors from being able to earn more money is the length of hiatus between television seasons. During a hiatus, an actor is signed onto a show until work resumes or the actor is released from their contract. However, hiatuses have gotten longer, meaning that actors are left in a painful holding position that keeps them out of work (or if they are about to be let go, from finding new work). In response to SAG asking for smaller hiatuses between TV seasons, AMPTP allegedly offered only a few suggestions that would offer limited help. AMPTP also didn’t agree to reimburse actors who have to relocate for their job. SAG-AFTRA claimed that studios use “the ruse” that series regulars are “becoming residents of a new state or country when they go on location” and aren’t paid adequately for the cost of relocation. The studios, on the other hand, allegedly offered stipends as a solution to the problem, but these stipends don’t fully reflect the cost of living out of state or out of the country.
What do you think about the reasons SAG-AFTRA is on strike?
