UPDATE 10 PM PT 11/1: Updated to include new membership memo from SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee.
SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are expected to continue talks on Thursday as the long process of constructing a new contract continues, including on key rules regarding use of artificial intelligence.
Cautious optimism continues to be the tone among studio insiders who spoke to TheWrap, with the belief that steady progress is being made towards a deal. Studios are anxious to get actors back to work on awards and holiday film promotion campaigns and to salvage production on movies and TV shows for 2024, as several films like “Mission: Impossible 8” have already been moved off of next year’s release slate.
In a statement to members sent on Wednesday evening, SAG-AFTRA said that its negotiating committee worked internally on Wednesday morning on its response to the AMPTP’s latest proposal regarding actors’ consent and compensation protections on AI-generated replicas of their performance. They then presented their counterproposal to the studios during negotiations this afternoon.
“We continue to await the AMPTP’s response to our comprehensive counter proposal package which we gave them on Saturday, addressing outstanding issues,” the guild added.
As the actors’ strike reached its 110th day, SAG-AFTRA held a unity rally with other Hollywood unions in front of the Disney lot in Burbank, suspending picket lines in front of all other studio lots in Los Angeles. That was hours before Disney announced its plans to take full control of Hulu via an $8.6 billion deal with Comcast for the NBCUniversal parent company’s stake in the streaming service.
SAG-AFTRA members also received a video message from guild president Fran Drescher via her Instagram page before talks began on Wednesday.
“I’m getting ready now to go to work, and I just want you to know that I feel a sense of strength, not anger, and I feel a sense of optimism, not negativity,” Drescher said.
