SAG-AFTRA & Studios agree to further contract talks on Friday; The motto of the day: “Cautious optimism”

EXCLUSIVE: SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said as much on the picket lines on Thursday, and now it appears that “cautious optimism,” as one insider characterized it today, has become the general term for the state of talks with the actors’ brotherhood became . and the studios.

With this in mind, SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP agreed to meet again on Friday, after today’s negotiations concluded after nearly five hours.

With no face-to-face discussions Wednesday, the focus of today’s deliberations was SAG-AFTRA’s response to the AMPTP’s recent offer to offer higher bonuses based on the success of streaming shows and movies, as well as an increase in minimum rates. Based on their hard contract with the Writers Guild, the studios implemented a 7% increase in minimum requirements. Apparently, SAG-AFTRA, which discussed an 11% increase, recognized the tactical weight of this move and offered a compromise that narrows the gap between the two.

After the revenue-sharing issue “evolved,” as a guild source put it, a studio source said the ideas floated by the guild Thursday were “something we can work with.”

This could be a good sign as SAG-AFTRA has been on strike for 105 days now. With production at a standstill and the 2024 schedule looking shaky for both film and television, the summer Hollywood strikes have cost the Southern California economy an estimated $6.5 billion and the loss of 45,000 jobs.

However, another studio source doesn’t want to put the cart before the horse, telling Deadline that “nothing has been resolved” in the room today.

A spokesperson for SAG-AFTRA told Deadline today: “SAG-AFTRA declines to comment because our negotiations are ongoing and we are strongly focused on negotiating in good faith to reach a fair agreement for SAG-AFTRA -members to ensure.

But after President Fran Drescher, Crabtree-Ireland and other guild leaders walked away from planned deliberations earlier this week “to conduct an in-depth review” of the latest AMPTP proposal, they were back at the negotiating table for a second day on that propose today. final discussion round. As in the final days of the WGA talks and SAG-AFTRA negotiations earlier this month, Disney’s Bob Iger, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley, David Zaslav of Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, as well as AMPTP President Carol Lombardini, joining them.

With that in mind, and with the return of the dour and gloomy chorus of bigots on the sidelines, today’s meeting between the executives and the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee at the guild’s headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard started later than usual. Start at noon (PT) to sync everyone’s schedules.

Anticipating a somewhat open morning, SAG-AFTRA’s Crabtree-Ireland took the opportunity to jump to the picket line at Paramount to march with members. He also told Deadline that he is “cautiously optimistic” and that “we are 100% focused on getting a fair deal to the table.”

It seems that everyone who cares about ending this strike will be sitting at this table for at least another day.