SAG-AFTRA has announced picket schedules in Los Angeles and New York for the first official day of the guild’s strike, with Disney and Warner Bros. among the studios to be picketed by guild members.
In L.A., from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. PT, guild members will picket Disney and Warner Bros. in Burbank, Sony and Amazon in Culver City, Fox in West L.A. and Netflix and Paramount in Hollywood, with a separate Hollywood demonstration planned for the intersection of Sunset and Gower.
And in New York, guild members will picket outside the offices of HBO, Amazon, Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, Paramount and NBC Universal; the picketing will occur simultaneously with the demonstrations in Los Angeles, from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET.
The SAG-AFTRA strike formally begins at 12:01 a.m. PT on Friday, and ahead of that the guild has laid out strict rules for members to remain in compliance. Among them, actors are forbidden from all principal on-camera work on TV and movie productions made by Hollywood studios.
Such work doesn’t just include straight acting, but essentially anything that could be considered a performance, including singing, dancing, stunt work, puppetry, mo-cap work and “piloting on-camera aircraft.” Actors are also prohibited from voice-over work or serving as an extra, and they’re not allowed to attend conventions or fan expos — a serious blow to the 2023 San Diego Comic-Con just one week before it begins.
They’re also not allowed to negotiate for future work or have negotiations conducted on their behalf, among other rules. Read more about that here.
Of course, with the strike declaration announced at a noon at Thursday’s press conference, SAG-AFTRA has joined members of the Writers Guild of America in picketing the studios, forming the first double strike in Hollywood since 1960.
When speaking to reporters, guild president Fran Drescher and national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland accused the AMPTP of not taking its key demands seriously and of “wasting” the 12-day extension of negotiations the two sides agreed to on June 30. Read more about the points of disagreement between the actors’ union and studios here.
