SAG-AFTRA Actors Strike: Explained

The Actors Strike Explained

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re doing a deep dive into the 2023 Screen Actors Guild strike.

For this video, we’re looking at common questions about the strike, and how it affects your favorite upcoming TV shows and movies.

How do you feel about the strike? Tell us in the comments!

Who’s Striking?

On midnight July 14, Hollywood actors went on strike, after negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down. Screen Actors Guild president, “The Nanny’s” Fran Drescher, described AMPTP’s concessions as “insulting”. 98% of the guild’s 160,000 members, which also includes journalists, program hosts, voice actors, and other entertainers, voted for the strike. The strike means that members can’t participate in film or television productions or take part in promotional work. Given that writers are also striking, Hollywood has effectively grinded to a halt. This also affects film and TV crews, as well as ancillary workers such as caterers and set designers.

What Do Actors Want?

Streaming has transformed the entertainment industry, resulting in dwindling residuals - financial compensation based on reruns, syndication, DVDs, and so on. The Screen Actors Guild wants greater base pay and residuals. A lot of actors rely on residuals to make ends meet. We’re not talking about Hollywood A-listers, but the majority of actors, eking out a living role-to-role. The pandemic has also left its mark. During lockdown, self-tape auditions became common - shifting cost from producers to actors. The Screen Actors Guild want that to end. Another key demand is protection from A.I. replacing actors. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers offered to ask performers for consent to digitize them, but allegedly wanted the rights to own replicas of background actors forever for “one day’s pay”.

Is This Related to the Writer’s Strike?

Screenwriters are also on strike, and have been picketing studios since May 2. Now that both writers and actors are on strike, not only is nothing being written, nothing already written is being filmed! Before the Screen Actors Guild called for the strike, many actors expressed support for the writers on the picket line. And there’s an overlap between the issues that affect both. One is streaming: writers have also seen residuals diminish. The other is A.I., which writers fear could replace them too. Unique to writers is the fact that studios have replaced traditional writer’s rooms with ‘mini-rooms’ - smaller teams of experienced writers often working for reduced wages.

Has This Happened Before?

While the last Guild of America strike was in 2007-08, the most recent Screen Actors Guild strike was back in 1980! It lasted over three months. However, this is potentially more historic, as it’s the first time that writers and actors have gone on strike at the same time since 1960 - back when Ronald Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild! Disney CEO Bob Iger slammed actor demands as “not realistic”, and complained that the strike added to “challenges that this business is already facing”. In the backlash, critics pointed to Iger’s $27 million a year in target compensation. He delivered the remarks at an annual conference in Sun Valley, Idaho known as a "summer camp for billionaires."

How Will the Strike Affect TV & Film?

Oh boy. If you’re eagerly anticipating a new season or film that’s still in production … don’t hold your breath! The writers’ strike saw late night TV shows go dark, and work cease on new seasons of shows like “Abbott Elementary”, “Yellowjackets”, and “Stranger Things”. Now that actors are also on strike, delays are likely for shows and films still in production, including “Deadpool 3”, “Gladiator 2”, “Beetlejuice 2”, “Wicked”, and new seasons of “American Horror Story” and “Andor”. According to Variety, “House of the Dragon” season 2 is still on track, as U.K. actors aren’t on strike. But expect to see a lot more reality shows, game shows, and sports on TV to fill the gaps!