SAG Strike

Last summer, as unionized writers and actors striked for a combined six months against Hollywood studios, crew members marched and chanted by their side. On Sunday, the chants continued, as thousands of crew workers gathered for a Los Angeles rally ahead of Monday’s bargaining talks with Hollywood studios and streamers, the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers. With one of Hollywood’s longest actors’ strikes to date behind us, Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists…

In the last nearly 25 years, Mandy Moore has grown up in Hollywood as her fans and audiences have grown along with her. They’ve watched her rise as a pop-culture icon, from early movies like A Walk to Remember and hit singles like “Crush” to her recent success as an Emmy-nominated actor on This Is Us. A lot of pop stars and actors from her era have come and gone, but her longevity across music, TV, and film has proven that there’s only one Mandy Moore.  Most recently, Moore stars in the second season of Dr. Death,…

A fter four long months marching on Hollywood picket lines, bargaining inside hostile negotiating rooms, and giving Buddhist sermons, Fran Drescher can finally exhale.  Through the 118-day actors’ strike, The Nanny star turned SAG-AFTRA national president, joined by SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, has served as the face of the 160,000-strong union and says she uses the Nineties sitcom’s message around unity and acceptance in her leadership. “I can be exactly who I am,” she says in her…

Following the 118-day actors strike, the Screen Actors Guild negotiating committee has released the full contract and terms of their tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The contract, which is 128 pages, includes additional benefit plan funding, updated requirements for intimacy coordinators on set, and guidelines for the use of generative artificial intelligence. The release of the memorandum of agreement comes ahead of the Dec. 5 deal ratification deadline to vote on the…

A s an alternate member of the Screen Actors Guild negotiating committee, Shaan Sharma spent most of this last year strategizing with other committee members and going back and forth with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over deal points that are important to actors and their futures in the entertainment industry. As the issue of artificial intelligence is top of mind for performers, who have concerns about how the digital technology will shape Hollywood and impact their career…

Last week when SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the details around the issue of artificial intelligence were at the top of everyone’s mind. Now, the union has released specific language around how AI provisions will appear in the contract. A graphic chart breaks down how the union and the studios plan to regulate artificial intelligence for actors across the entertainment industry. In the case of artificial intelligence,…

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and other higher-ups at the union defended the union’s new contract with the studios, especially after some members criticized provisions dealing with the use of artificial intelligence. As Variety reports, Drescher called out the “naysayers” during a Zoom meeting with members on Monday, Nov. 13, saying they have “exploited this momentum of ours” and “tried to tear down what was being done in the negotiating committee.” SAG members will vote to ratify the tentative contract…

Live from New York on Saturday night, Timothée Chalamet took the stage as host of Saturday Night Live and, during his opening monologue, celebrated how the union SAG-AFTRA reached a deal with the Hollywood studios this week, putting an end to the 118-day actors’ strike. “I do feel lucky to be hosting until after the SAG strike ended because up until two days ago, and I know this is what we were all thinking about, actors couldn’t talk about their movies,” offered Chalamet. “The only thing I was allowed to talk…

Hooray, showbiz is back! Now what? Wednesday night, SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP, bringing to an end to six months of Hollywood strikes, involving the writers guild and then the actors. The writers have been back at work for a month, and SAG leadership has told its members they can resume working even while everyone waits for the new agreement to be ratified. Things have gotten pretty lean over the last few months of television, as some networks and streamers have largely run out of…