SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers returned to the negotiating table on Tuesday after a day of internal talks, with the two sides expected to keep working towards a deal on Wednesday.
While talks closed early today to allow for those with families to spend Halloween with them, an insider with knowledge of the talks said that AMPTP reps and SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee members spent Tuesday in breakout groups going through finer details of the contract, including some actor-specific issues.
With more than 160,000 members, SAG-AFTRA has a wide range of performers whose interests must be addressed in their contract, from singers and dancers to stuntmen and puppeteers, among others. Negotiating terms for those specific types of performers takes time, which is why insiders told TheWrap over the weekend that while there was renewed optimism that talks are on course for a deal, there’s still several days of negotiations still to go.
SAG-AFTRA expressed similar sentiments in a memo to members sent on Monday, saying that “while talks over the past week have been productive, we remain far apart on key issues.”
While the talks continued, SAG-AFTRA members like “Law & Order: Organized Crime” star Christopher Meloni took to the picket lines sporting Halloween costumes on the 110th day of the actors’ strike. AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler also attended picket lines in New York City.
While the guild shared pictures of costumed picketers on its Twitter account, none of the costumes featured were of characters from films and TV shows made by major studios in keeping with a strike rule that became the basis for a “Saturday Night Live” sketch this past weekend.
For all of TheWrap’s Hollywood strike coverage, click here.
