Actors strike – latest: Hollywood walkout could last months

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher says the actors guild is ready for a long strike.

While the duration of the strike is unknown, Drescher says they are looking to the long game.

“Right now, we discussed what it would cost if it went for six months, so we’re looking for the long haul,” said Drescher. “The gravity of a commitment like this is not lost on any of us. It’s major. But we also see that we have no future and no livelihood unless we take this action, unfortunately.”

Hollywood’s largest union, SAG-AFTRA, representing 160,000 film and television actors, and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are demanding increases in base pay and residuals in the streaming TV era plus assurances that their work will not be replaced by artificial intelligence.

John Cusack is one of several Hollywood stars speaking out about unfair wages for actors as the performers’ union goes on strike.

In a repost of a video showing Sag-Aftra president Fran Drescher speaking out against the “disgusting” greed of film and TV bosses, the High Fidelity star told an anecdote relating to the hit 1989 teen romcom Say Anything, in which his character wooed his love interest by holding a boombox above his head at her bedroom window.

“The greed is almost a legendary comic trope,” he began his post. “One fun fact – when I was a youngin – I did a film (with a boom box) and somehow I got points – net not gross.

“Never expected to see any money but the film became quite famous – so about 10 years ago I looked again at the financial statements they were obligated to report – and to my shock, they claimed they had LOST 44 million dollars on the film.”

Disney CEO Bob Iger has been criticised for saying writers and actors are not being “realistic” with their strike expectations, and calling the prospect of the strike “disturbing”.

During an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday morning (13 July), hours before the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra) began striking, Iger said the decision by the actors’ and writers’ unions to go on strike was “very disturbing to me”.

He said: “We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from Covid, which is ongoing, it’s not completely back.

“This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption.”

The famed event in San Diego is set to start next Thursday, but SAG-AFTRA specifically has banned its members from doing promotion at conventions and fan expos, according to Variety.

Hollywood’s actors and writers have both gone on strike for the first time since 1960 to protest against a number of decisions by major studios that include not just job cuts but also a potentially unsettling future in which they could be replaced by artificial intelligence.

The leaders of SAG-AFTRA, the Hollywood union representing 160,000 television and movie actors, went on strike on Thursday, joining the industry’s screenwriters who have already been picketing for over 70 days.

Among the many issues flagged by both the writers and actors in the protests has been how generative AI tools could replace their roles in the industry.

“Now that I am also striking as an actor, my all my picketing movements will have purpose and my strike character will have a secret,” Guy Branum wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

The Wire showrunner David Simon quote retweeted Branum’s initial tweet and added: “Now that the actors are striking with me, we’re going to workshop the hell out of my rage and entertain picket lines with exquisitely profane one-act plays.”

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher announced the union’s approval for actors to join writers’ strike in historic move that hasn’t happened in over 60 years.