SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and the WGA are among the groups standing in solidarity with the DGA as the guild enters its final scheduled week of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, with the current DGA contract up on June 30.
The groups, which also included WGA East, WGA West, Hollywood Basic Crafts and the Teamsters, issued a statement Wednesday standing alongside the DGA “alongside our sisters, brothers, and kin in the DGA in their pursuit of a fair contract.”
“We believe in a Hollywood where every worker is valued and their contributions recognized, whether their labor is on or off screen,” the statement reads. “A fair contract for directors does not benefit just a select few; it uplifts every worker in the film and television industry and acknowledges the interconnected nature of our work.”
The groups continued with a call to action from the AMPTP to “immediately negotiate a fair agreement that addresses the Directors Guild of America’s unique priorities in good faith.”
“As eyes around the world again turn towards the negotiation table, we send a clear message to the AMPTP: Our solidarity is not to be underestimated,” the statement concluded. “The Hollywood guilds and unions stand united, and we stand strong.”
The letter of solidarity comes as the WGA is in the midst of its fifth week of striking as the guild fights for streaming residuals, mini rooms and concerns over artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, ahead of SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations with the AMPTP, which are slated to begin June 7, on May 17 the guild board’s asked members to authorize a strike should negotiators deem it necessary, with a June 5 deadline to vote in favor or against authorizing a strike.
On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA members Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kumail Nanjiani, Jean Smart, Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal and several others urged members to vote in favor of authorizing an actors’ strike in a video posted to the Twitter.
“I’m asking you to join me in voting ‘yes’ on the strike authorization,” Louis-Dreyfus said in the video alongside the caption “We’re a union, and a union stands together!”
For all of TheWrap’s WGA Strike coverage, click here.
