Hollywood actors took to the picket strains Friday for the primary full day of the SAG-AFTRA strike, demanding higher pay and fairer working situations for these within the leisure trade.
Protests had been seen in each Los Angeles and New York Metropolis, with a variety of A-list faces taking to the strains. Jason Sudeikis, who not too long ago obtained one other Emmy nomination for his main function in “Ted Lasso,” was joined by Susan Sarandon in New York, whereas Josh Gad, Allison Janney, Rosario Dawson, and others picketed exterior varied studios in L.A.
The picketing started after SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 actors and trade professionals, voted to strike following the breakdown of negotiations with the Alliance of Movement Image and Tv Producers (AMPTP), which represents main Hollywood studios. Whereas the prospect of a brand new contract between the 2 sides appeared possible just some weeks in the past, SAG-AFRTA President Fran Drescher instructed The Hollywood Reporter, “As we tried to get extra into the vortex of what our issues are, that was once we began to get stonewalled.”
SAG-AFTRA is looking for a greater pay scale for actors, writing in a press release that “compensation has been severely eroded by the rise of the streaming ecosystem.” It’s also looking for safety from synthetic intelligence in movie and tv, calling the know-how “an existential risk to artistic professions, and all actors and performers deserve contract language that protects them from having their identification and expertise exploited with out consent and pay.”
In response to the strike, AMPTP mentioned that SAG-AFTRA “has regrettably chosen a path that may result in monetary hardship for numerous hundreds of people that rely on the trade.”
This marks the second trade walkout this summer time, as screenwriters from the Writers Guild of America have additionally been hanging for related protections since Could. The twin strikes have successfully introduced Hollywood to a whole standstill.