After SAG-AFTRA Releases List of Contract Proposals, Union Members Call AMPTP Counters “Insulting”
SAG-AFTRA members have now gotten a fuller look at what was on the negotiating table between their union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers during more than a month of negotiations. The general response to the 12-page document, which was released late Monday night, was a mixture of surprise and disappointment over what the studios allegedly proposed or wouldn’t engage on, according to the union.
“My eyes popped out of my head when I read these deal points last night. Unreal,” Star Trek: Discovery star Wilson Cruz tweeted on Tuesday. The Righteous Gemstones actress Kristen Johnston, who picketed at Disney on Tuesday, also tweeted a brief but pointed response: “They actually hate us.”
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Antonio Rael, who was on the Fox picket line in L.A., generally described the counterproposals as “insulting,” while fellow actor and union member Laura Martinez said, “They know we’re not going to agree to that.” But for SAG-AFTRA strike captain Jeff Reeves, the AMPTP’s counter “wasn’t much of a surprise.”
“As far as counterproposals go, it wasn’t so much a counterproposal as just flat-out rejection of almost everything,” SAG-AFTRA strike captain Darsan Solomon (Victorious, Community) told The Hollywood Reporter at an L.A. picket on Tuesday. “They’re really insistent on wanting to squeeze us for everything we’ve got, so they can get the most profits possible.” (In its statement on Monday night, the AMPTP said, “For SAG-AFTRA to assert that we have not been responsive to the needs of its membership is disingenuous at best.”)
A number of union members, as well as social media users who saw the proposals shared across platforms like Twitter, called out the number of times the AMPTP simply “rejected” a proposal put forth by the actors’ union.
No further explanation was provided by the union around how they defined rejection, but topics that were marked as such include proposals for casts to share in revenue generated through their streaming projects; West and East Coast background actors working under the same terms; tone, style, period, accents and character descriptions being provided to a performer at the time an audition is requested; an acknowledgement that performance capture is a skilled category of work to be covered by SAG-AFTRA; and increased penalties for productions that fail to provide meal breaks or sufficient rest between work days.
In their response, AMPTP called the document’s summation of the negotiation proposals and counters an effort to “mischaracterize” the two parties’ discussions that also did not include what the group allegedly offered “verbally to SAG-AFTRA leadership on July 12.” The AMPTP has not released its own similar document, but the group that represents studios and streamers in negotiations said in a statement that its last offer to the union ahead of the now-expired contract negotiation deadline is valued at more than $1 billion in wage improvements, residual increases, and pension and health contributions.
While artificial intelligence and background actors remained a talking point, other key proposals that have gotten increased exposure are financial support for performers who have to relocate due to shooting locations, adjustments in the contract around inflation, and support for performers of color within the hair and makeup departments.
For High Maintenance and Survival of the Thickest actor Sagan Chen, the proposal to ensure performers have access to qualified hair and makeup professionals was key, though the AMPTP allegedly countered with a tentative agreement that would only cover principal actors. “As a trans person of color, it is sometimes incredibly difficult for me to feel as if I’m being seen and heard in the hair and makeup trailer and during fittings,” they said.
They were also surprised by just how many contract points have not been adjusted for inflation for decades. “It feels like it ties in with their refusals to acknowledge how streaming and residuals — or lack thereof — has fundamentally changed the industry,” Chen added.
On Twitter, Lucifer star D.B. Woodside addressed at length the financial stresses that actors currently face with having to relocate for a production while maintaining a primary residence in Los Angeles. “If you’re a series regular on a TV show you get flown to another city (another country, Canada usually) where you’re expected to LIVE for the duration of filming. They give you a ‘relocation fee’ to get you ‘started.’ Usually falls between $4,000 – $8,000. That’s it. For the LIFE OF THAT SERIES. Not every season. ONCE,” he tweeted.
He added that many actors pay month-to-month, start — and break — a lease, or find another actor to take over the lease. “Add airline tickets to fly back and forth to see your partners and children. We pay for that shit too,” he said. “This happens EVERY SINGLE SEASON on TV shows throughout the USA that film outside of LA. I don’t know many folks that can easily afford a mortgage, an apartment rental, two cars, one a lease, the other a rental car, AND airline tickets to see their families and not eventually feel the pain financially.”
SAG-AFTRA requested “sufficient levels” for relocation allowances, but claims that the AMPTP countered with “inadequate fixed ‘stipends’ that bear no relationship to the actual cost” of working away from home for months.
While a number of union performers spent the night and following day parsing through the summarized details of what SAG-AFTRA had proposed in their talks with the Hollywood studios, there were other members of the more than 150,000-member union on the picket lines on Tuesday who told THR they had yet to sit down and look over the lengthy list of negotiated issues.
Reeves attributed part of the delay in engaging with the proposals to the gag order on the negotiators during the more than a month of talks between the union and studios. “I think a lot of the membership, including me, didn’t know exactly what was going on,” he said. “So to see it, it’s actually probably a little bit worse.”
He pointed to a statement made by SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher ahead of the contract negotiation extension in which she “was a little positive” as a reason why the contents of that 12-page document may have surprised some union members. “It sounded like things may be going better than it went with the writers. It sounds like they may have been negotiating in good faith. But of course, now we see it, and that’s why we’re here,” he told THR.
While some on social media celebrated the small agreed-to gains (like extending options between seasons and additional support for hair and makeup), the consensus sentiment from actors was that the studios remain out of touch.
“They’re trying, but it doesn’t feel like they’re in touch with what it is that we’re asking for in terms of the requests of the AI and having a fair wage,” said SAG-AFTRA member LuLu Lam.
Chen concurred. “It certainly doesn’t feel like the AMPTP came to the table in good faith, and it feels to me, they are really trying to hold out and take advantage of AI to exploit us to the best of their abilities,” they said.
For Reeves, the proposals and counterproposals document is emblematic of a larger labor fight in the U.S. “I think we’re suffering the same as workers everywhere in America,” he told THR. “Whether it’s baristas or factory workers, van drivers, people working in retail. We’ve just got this corporate structure above us that doesn’t want to pay us fairly. And we’re just really looking for fair wages and dignity. We’re not looking to get rich, just to be able to make a living.”
“Some of you should maybe get use to the fact that SAG-AFTRA strike won’t be over quickly,” WGA strike captain, writer and director Caroline Renard tweeted Tuesday. “Not after reading all the things AMPTP rejected. I know you love your big name stars & want them to promote their big studio films, but this is bigger than them.”
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