The writers strike may have ended but the three-month actors strike shows no signs of slowing down...
ADVERTISEMENTTalks have broken off between Hollywood actors and studios, killing any hopes that the strike by performers was coming to an end after nearly three months, as the writers strike recently did.
The studios announced that they had suspended contract negotiations late Wednesday (11 October) night, saying the gap between the two sides was too great to make continuing worth it.
On 2 October, for the first time since the strike began 14 July, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists had resumed negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, streaming services and production companies in strike talks.
When negotiations resumed with writers last month, their strike ended five days later, but similar progress was not made with the actors union.
The studios walked away from talks after seeing the actors' most recent proposal on Wednesday.
“It is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction,” the AMPTP said in a statement.
The SAG-AFTRA proposal would cost companies an additional $800 million a year and create “an untenable economic burden,” the statement said.
Actors have been on strike over issues including increases in pay for streaming programming and control of the use of their images generated by artificial intelligence.
The AMPTP insisted its offers had been as generous as the deals that brought an end to the writers strike and brought a new contract to the directors guild earlier this year.
Members of the Writers Guild of America voted almost unanimously to ratify their new contract on Monday. But with no actors, production on scripted shows and movies will stay on pause indefinitely.
