SAG-AFTRA and the studios are planning on talking more, but there will be no deal tonight.
Following an extensive day of negotiations on Tuesday, both parties are still contending with a number of persistent issues, with AI protections being a particular point of contention, as we’ve been informed. After thorough discussions and consultations with legal experts and other advisors throughout the evening, the negotiating committee of the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have scheduled another meeting for Wednesday.
Under the leadership of SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and AMPTP president Carol Lombardini, the parties engaged in extensive discussions today, both delving into the substantive aspects of a potential agreement and addressing the procedural steps required to formalize the tentative deal in writing. Notably, this time around, studio CEOs were not present via Zoom, as they had been in previous instances.
Following a meeting Monday night with the AMPTP, the TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee spent 10 hours deliberating today,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement sent out to members late Tuesday. “We will continue on Wednesday. We appreciate your patience and support while we finish our work.” )
The lack of a tentative agreement tonight means that the soon-to-be 118-day-old strike will not be over before both Warner Bros Discovery and Disney release their quarterly earnings results Wednesday – an event horizon many incorrectly assumed the labor action would not cross. the studios are planning
For that, we hear from sources on both sides of the bargaining table: blame AI.
Facing a technology that is clearly evolving in leaps and bounds, the guild wants to see “sturdy guardrails,” as a SAG-AFTRA source termed it, that will protect its 160,000 members both in terms of compensation and rights to their likeness. While the gap between what the AMPTP is now offering and what the guild is seeking has significantly narrowed in the past 36 hours, they are “close but not there yet,” according to the SAG-AFTRA source.
Deadline heard from several sources that guild president Fran Drescher was pinged by A-list stars asking about whether a deal was nigh. We’re told the guild leaders too were hopeful that Tuesday was all about Lombardini and Crabtree-Ireland hammering out the details and fine print.
“A lot of red tape,” summed up one studio insider about the deal that the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee and guild and studio lawyers were picking through. Another creative close to talks sums up, “lots of back channels today.” Studio sources trumpet the “majorly historic” deal that’s in front of the actors, while exclaiming that many actors in the ranks are upset with the ongoing strike, in addition to many below-the-line communities. On the flip of that, as well-attended pickets on both coasts attest today, guild unity remains strong.