George Clooney was among several actors who met with SAG-AFTRA leaders on Tuesday, October 17 to discuss why contract negotiations broke down on October 11.
The Ocean’s Eleven star, 62, spoke with guild president Fran Drescher and union national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland over Zoom, according to Deadline. Scarlett Johansson, Emma Stone, Ben Affleck and Tyler Perry also attended the meeting.
Clooney, Johansson, Stone, Affleck and Perry were “extremely supportive” of the union leaders who are seeking a new three-year contract for SAG-AFTRA, a source told Deadline. “They had a lot of questions, some suggestions, and a lot of good feedback,” another insider said.
The actors were especially interested in increased revenue sharing from The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the 4 major studio CEOs who were involved in the talks: Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley and Disney’s Bob Iger.
Additional compensation for actors has been the focus of the SAG-AFTRA negotiations which began in June. In mid-July, the union joined the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and went on strike. The WGA strike, which began May 2, was settled on September 27.
When the 2nd set of talks in the actors strike resumed on October 2, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) was also a major issue in addition to revenue sharing,
Last week, SAG-AFTRA made a proposal on how cast members could benefit from the success of a series or film on streaming services. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers objected to the proposal, which it claimed would cost $800 million a year. AMPTP left the talks, along with the four CEOS, on October 11 and did not return.
Drescher and Crabtree-Ireland expected negotiations to resume the next day as scheduled, however, they later received a call saying that the talks were being stopped.
The next day, October 12, the SAG-AFTRA reps sent an email to the union members, reading, “We have made big, meaningful counters on our end, including completely transforming our revenue share proposal, which would cost the companies less than 57¢ per subscriber each year.”
“They have rejected our proposals and refused to counter,” the email continued, adding that the 4 CEOs and the AMPTP tried to use “bully tactics” and “the same failed strategy they tried to inflict on the WGA.”
New talks between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA have not been scheduled.
