SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland says the actors guild remains ready to return to the negotiating table, but he says it hasn’t heard “anything officially” from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios.
“I said to the companies, ‘We’re ready to continue bargaining,’ the next day and the day thereafter, as soon as they’re ready. Their response was, ‘Well, we won’t be ready to talk for quite a while.’ You know, that was undefined, what ‘quite a while’ means,” Crabtree-Ireland told TheWrap at San Diego Comic-Con Saturday.
Already reeling from the WGA strike, SAG-AFTRA’s work stoppage effectively closes down Hollywood. Studios are pushing movie releases, awards season is getting messy and even animation, which has been a bright spot this year at the box office as animators are part of a separate guild, will start to feel the pain.
“I haven’t had any formal communications from [AMPTP] at all,” Duncan-Crabtree said. “I’m always talking to people, like that’s my job. So I’m talking to people around the industry. There are plenty of people who are trying to backchannel things. That may end up being a fruitful way to move forward. We’ll see how that happens.”
He continued, “Federal mediators have reached out to me, I’ve talked with them. So basically, the bottom line is we’re ready and willing to talk in any forum. That makes sense. And so, I hope the companies will come to their senses and take that step as well, because there’s no way the strike can be resolved without people talking to each other.”
An AMPTP representative didn’t respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
TheWrap spoke to Crabtree-Ireland Saturday afternoon following his appearance during a panel focused on the risks of artificial intelligence, where he explained that from his point of view, SDCC attendees have consistently shown “supportive solidarity” with striking actors and writers.
San Diego Comic-Con has been profoundly affected by the double strike. With actors and writers unavailable, most studios have also pulled out, leaving the usual centers of hype like Hall H without hugely hyped panels to draw in equally huge crowds.
But the hundreds of thousands of fans who nevertheless made the trip to San Diego haven’t shown any frustrations about that side effect of the strike. Far from it, according to Crabtree-Ireland.
“I’ve been here many, many, many times,” he said, joking that he’s “a bit of a nerd,” adding that aside from the diminished studio presence, “the vibe is very, very normal.”
“I think the fans who are here, they’re passionate about their fandoms, they’re cosplaying [fully], and in fact, some of them are integrating strike support stuff into their cosplay,” he said, noting one example, a cosplayer handing out ribbons that say “SAG-AFTRA strong” and “WGA strong.”
“I think it’s fantastic,” he continued. “I was wondering when we got here if there would be a lot of people who are frustrated with us because of the impact on panels and stars coming here. But the contrary.”
“The message that I got,” he said, is largely “‘We support you. And I think it comes from the fact that these fans care about the performers who created these worlds for them, and they don’t want to see them abused or mistreated by these companies. And there has been such supportive solidarity that it’s really it’s been a great thing. And I hope to bring that news back to all of our members.”
For all of TheWrap’s strike coverage, click here. And for all our San Diego Comic-Con coverage, go here.
