George Clooney, Tyler Perry, Emma Stone and more meet with SAG-AFTRA executives to provide update on talks with studios and revenue-sharing proposal

EXCLUSIVE: Some of Hollywood’s biggest names met with SAG-AFTRA leadership today to learn more about last week’s breakdown in talks with studios and streamers.

George Clooney, Emma Stone, Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry and Scarlett Johansson were among a group of top talent guild members who sat down with guild president Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland for an extended discussion on Tuesday, we learn.

In a meeting with guild leadership this afternoon via Zoom, the Oscar winners and other A-listers were particularly interested in the revenue sharing proposals that SAG-AFTRA presented to AMPTP and CEO Gang of Four.

This effort to secure further compensation for guild members has been a bitter pill to swallow for the studios and streamers since they first began talks with SAG-AFTRA in June and until the union in the middle of the WGA at the joined battle lines. July. When negotiations resumed on October 2, the proposal was still the subject of intense debate between both sides.

The deliberations were suspended by studio bosses on October 11, with revenue sharing and AI emerging as key points of contention.

During today’s discussion, Clooney, Johansson and the others were “extremely supportive” of union leaders and their position to seek a new three-year contract for SAG-AFTRA, a source familiar with the situation told Deadline. “They had a lot of questions, some suggestions and a lot of great feedback,” an insider said separately.

While SAG-AFTRA would not confirm or deny the virtual conversation with A-listers on Tuesday, a union spokesman said: “We meet every day with members of all profiles and will not comment on these private conversations.”

With Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley and Disney’s Bob Iger all at the negotiating table last week for the parties’ second round of talks, SAG-AFTRA offered a new look at how the cast of a series or film can benefit from streaming services.

Refusing to accept the $800 million per year price tag later demanded by the AMPTP, the CEOs and their AMPTP team left the talks last Wednesday afternoon at the SAG-AFTRA headquarters on Wilshire Blvd and never returned not. Drescher and Crabtree-Ireland assumed that talks would resume the next day as planned, and later received a call informing them that the recently resumed negotiations were being halted. Following the AMPTP’s comments on the night of October 11, Sarandos later described the latest revenue-sharing proposal as a “tax” on streaming consumers.

“We have made important, powerful counterarguments to our side, including the complete overhaul of our revenue sharing proposal, which will cost companies less than 57 cents per subscriber per year,” the guild said in an email to members early this morning, Oct. 12. . “They rejected our proposals and refused to act on them,” SAG-AFTA added, claiming that the HUBs and the AMPTP were trying to use “bullying tactics” and “the same failed strategy they tried to impose on the WGA.”

In response to Sarandos’ statement that the union was demanding a levy on submarines, Crabtree-Ireland told Deadline at New York Comic Con on Oct. 14 that such a hoax was “ridiculous.” He added: “It’s like saying workers should be compensated for their work as a tax.” This is wrong. The reason the product exists is because of their work. Fair compensation and fair wages for employees is not and never has been a tax.”

After the optimism as a result of the successful WGA agreement has faded, no new talks between AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA are currently planned.

This Saturday marks the 100th anniversary of the SAG-AFTRA strike, which is record action for the 160,000-member union.