As news of questionable studio decisions become more common, a strike from the Screen Actor’s Guild could deal a big blow to productions.
It seems like lately, you’d be hard-pressed to find a story where studios and streaming companies are making decisions that their workers and their customers (the paying audience) are satisfied with. As news breaks with stories such as Paramount+ purging their library, mass layoffs at Disney, Netflix cracking down on password sharing, as well as administering advertisement tiers and whatever David Zaslav is doing at Warner Bros., these businesses are scrambling to maximize the bottom line. The biggest issue among those, though, is the breaking down in negotiations with the Writer’s Guild of America, who have implemented a strike since the beginning of May.
Unfortunately, talks have also been strained between the studios and SAG-AFTRA as of late. And the union recently voted to strike along with the writers should they also not reach an agreement. This would be a devastating blow to the output of content. There are already many projects on delay due to the WGA strike, but one from the actors would shut down the ones currently in production immediately. According to Variety, around 400 actors in SAG-AFTRA, including names like Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Rami Malek, are urging the union to take a hardline with the studios as they are prepared to take action.
Members of the union sent an internal letter that emphasized, “We are prepared to strike if it comes to that. And we are concerned by the idea that SAG-AFTRA members may be ready to make sacrifices that leadership is not.” The current contract SAG-AFTRA has with the studios expires on Friday, and they will be issuing a strike on Saturday should an agreement not be met. The letter showcases that the actors will remain steadfast. “This is not a moment to meet in the middle, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that the eyes of history are on all of us. We ask that you push for all the change we need and protections we deserve and make history doing it. If you are not able to get all the way there, we ask that you use the power given to you by us, the membership, and join the WGA on the picket lines. For our union and its future, this is our moment. We hope that, on our behalf, you will meet that moment and not miss it.”
It’s an old cliche that producers and the higher-ups at studios are greedy business people — from stories of someone getting fired so an executive can use that fund to buy a new boat (and even naming it after the terminated individual in jest) to Warner Bros. pushing forward with the initially troubled Justice League production so executives can keep their bonuses — but the recent questionable decisions being made draws a lot of curiosity as it seems to be less reasonable than usual for those working in these projects and the audience who are watching these projects.
