The impact of the SAG-AFTRA strike has been massive and Hollywood is keen on resolving it as soon as possible. At least, a few A-listers including George Clooney do. The huge strike that took Hollywood by storm began on July 14, 2023.
The negotiation was on the table but it was stalled for a while. However, the attempt to end the strike has always been on the priority list, as the industry has suffered a great deal out of it. The strike is soon to hit 100 days and many prominent faces in the industry believe it’s time to accelerate the negotiation.
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George Clooney And 4 Other Stars Join Helping Hands To End the SAG-AFTRA Strike
Five industry-prominent A-lister actors— George Clooney, Emma Stone, Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry, and Scarlett Johansson have shown their willingness to accelerate the negotiation, Deadline exclusively reported.
In a recent Zoom meeting, Clooney and the mentioned stars spoke with guild president Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. The A-listers, as reported by the outlet, showed interest in reevaluating the revenue-sharing proposals that SAG-AFTRA demanded before AMPTP.
The discussion has been fruitful and Clooney and the stars have been extremely supportive, a source told Deadline. “They had a lot of questions, some suggestions, and a lot of good feedback,” another source told the outlet. Also, the A-listers have been supportive of the new three-year contract for SAG-AFTRA.
However, the union did not reveal anything about the virtual conversation right after the news broke. “We meet with members of all profiles every day and we won’t be commenting on those private conversations,” a union spokesperson said. Still, the actors coming out to find a solution to end the strike shows promising intent.
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A Lucrative $150 Million Proposal
Speaking with Deadline, Clooney exclusively confirmed the Zoom call negotiation revealing that many industry prominent personalities are up for a solution at hand. “A lot of the top earners want to be part of the solution,” he told the outlet. Explaining the negotiation, the Oscar winner said:
“We’ve offered to remove the cap on dues, which would bring over $50 million to the union annually. Well over $150 million over the next three years. We think it’s fair for us to pay more into the union. We also are suggesting a bottom-up residual structure— meaning the top of the call sheet would be the last to collect residuals, not the first. These negotiations will be ongoing, but we wanted to show that we’re all in this together and find ways to help close the gap on actors getting paid.”
The process of negotiation has been on the table for a while but it was never constructive as SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP could not meet a common ground. The new card of negotiation on the table could potentially end the long strike as it has affected not just the movies and shows but the strikers as well.
