The CEOs of SAG-AFTRA and Studio plan talks over the weekend in hopes of reaching an agreement

EXCLUSIVE: SAG-AFTRA and the studios do not have an agreement, but plan further talks.

A deal between SAG-AFTRA and the studios to end the 160,000-member guild’s 106-day strike looks almost certain not to happen tonight, although both sides are currently still in talks. (To update – 17:51: The talks are now over for today). However, we understand that the Guild and the AMPTP have agreed that discussions between the parties will take place over the weekend – Saturday and Sunday if necessary.

We have been told whether or not these talks will continue at the SAG-AFTRA offices in Wilshire is not yet known.

We also hear the reaction of AMPTP president Carol Lombardini and the big studio Gang of Four – Disney’s Bob Iger, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav and NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley – to the latest proposals were Guild not just the green light. and parking spaces. “Disappointed,” is how a source close to the virtual meeting described it.

But now that all parties know what’s at stake, AMPTP “recognizes that there are certain conditions that we can build on and talk about,” says a studio insider. The Gang of Four were less involved today than in the previous two meetings this week, with Lombardini taking the lead on Friday

After withdrawing in recent renegotiations from the revenue-sharing requirement that had existed for months with the AMPTP DOA, SAG-AFTRA on October 11 proposed an annual fee of about 57 cents per subscriber on streamers. The idea was a sticking point for the studios, who abruptly walked away and halted talks.

The next day, Sarandos called the proposal “a bridge too far” and “a tax on subscribers”. Note that the percentage proposal is not fixed and is open to negotiation. Guild president Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland threw shade at the co-CEO’s response, and he and his C-suite colleagues took their balls and went home.

After Iger contacted Crabtree-Ireland on October 21 to resume talks on October 24, the studios this week put an offer of bigger bonuses on the table based on the success of streaming shows and films and an increase in the minimum rates . The studios used their now-ratified contract with the Writers Guild as a road map of sorts, proposing a 7% increase in minimum requirements. Sources on both sides tell us that SAG-AFTRA raised the demand from 11% to 9% in its self-described “comprehensive offer” presented Friday.

Commenting on a largely quiet day with both sides close, a key source involved in the talks noted: “If I don’t hear anything, that’s a good thing because it means they’re talking.”

Yesterday, the atmosphere at the studio staff’s five-hour in-person meeting reflected what SAG-AFTRA Crabtree-Ireland told Deadline about the strikers: “cautious optimism” about a new deal. At the same time, sources on both sides cautioned against reading too much into it, as key sticking points such as pay-for-performance and, to a lesser extent, AI remained.

Later Thursday night, after talks between studio bosses and the guild concluded for the day, an open letter was released with signatures from a number of prolific actors, including Julia Louis Dreyfus, Jon Hamm, Sarah Paulson, Chelsea Handler, Christian Slater and Sandra O , Daveed Diggs, Pedro Pascal, Carrie Anne Moss, Leslie Odom, Jr., Lizzy Caplan and several others who told the SAG-AFTRA bargaining committee that “we’d rather strike than get a bad deal.”

The move, which is very similar to the June letter from a number of stars including Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Amy Schumer, who told SAG leadership they were ready to strike, has the large number of members who were inclined to to do so, emphasize. the AMPTP. Last week, a very different Zoom call took place with George Clooney, Emma Stone, Jennifer Aniston, Tyler Perry, Scarlett Johansson and others, where the A-list actors, many of whom are also established producers, wanted more in the union bring. suitcases in deposit. to abolish union contribution limits. Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA, respectfully pointed out in an Instagram video on the evening of October 19 that such a heartfelt gesture would not be legal and “has no bearing on the contract we are negotiating.”

Given the dismal fourth-quarter results and repeats, many studio sources fear that failure to reach a deal in the coming weeks would be a major blow to an entertainment industry that has completely halted production of Hollywood television and feature films worldwide has. industry. Full write-off, anyway, for the first half of 2024. Since many members of the guilds, other unions and vendors had no significant work for six months after Hollywood, eliminating the industrial program would increase the $6.5 billion drop which the Californian economy has suffered since May of this year. , including the impact of the now-resolved writers’ strike and the loss of 45,000 jobs in the entertainment industry

Today, Disney pushed back two major films from the 2024 theatrical release calendar to 2025: Pixar’s Elio and the live version of Snow White With Gal Gadot and Rachel Zegler. Earlier this week, Paramount insisted Mission: Impossible 8 from next year to 2025. All told, that’s already an estimated $1.5 billion missing from the global box office next year, and isn’t just a detriment to cinema studios still recovering from the pandemic.

But as media has changed throughout the history of Hollywood, from worldwide TV syndication to the video era, actors have always had to fight for the remnants of new technological changes. To understand how many people still haven’t realized the benefits of streaming, one writer joined Lucasfilm Andor The series told Deadline before the WGA strike that they would earn more in their run from airing a handful of episodes on ABC than from the show’s life on Disney+.

Or as the recently overwhelmingly re-elected Drescher asked in an exclusive column about the 100-day actors’ strike on Deadline: “So, where’s the money?”

“It’s clearly not because of the old residual compensation structure for linear TV, nor because of the current residual compensation for streaming. It’s in the pockets of CEOs and on the balance sheets of companies,” she said. said and partially answered her own question.

“Unfortunately, I am not at all surprised that our employers, alarmed by the large sums of investor money being poured into their companies, have failed to consider the artist’s ability to make money from SVOD while running their own rich businesses” negotiate , ” the SAG-AFTRA boss added.

And that’s why everyone is working this weekend to paraphrase Loverboy’s big hit from the 80s.