George Clooney and other A-list celebrities who are considered top earners in the industry have made a proposal to end the strike by offering $150 million to the SAG-AFTRA actors union. This generous offer would give the association an extra $150 million over the next three years.
Clooney’s offer would remove the $1 million cap on membership dues, and top actors would only collect residuals once lesser-paid stars have received theirs.
George Clooney Shares Proposal To End Actors’ Strike
During his interview with Deadline, actor George Clooney spoke with SAG-AFTRA leaders to make negotiations. He stated:
“A lot of the top earners want to be part of the solution. 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.”
The said funds would be allocated for the health benefits of members. Clooney also suggested reformulating how actors make streaming residuals. In this case, the offer would prioritize paying the lowest earners first.
“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.”
SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher responded to the actor’s proposal with gratitude via Instagram, though she asserted it would not affect the contract that they are striking over:
“We are a federally regulated labor union, and the only contributions that can go into our pension and health plans must be from the employer. So what we are fighting for in terms of benefits has to remain in this contract.”
At the time, Drescher said that they were still waiting for the executives to return to the table so they could have a thorough discussion.
Other Celebrities Joined In On The Cause To End Strike
George Clooney arranged a Zoom call meeting with other SAG-AFTRA members and top union leaders. The celebrities who took part in the conversation were: Scarlett Johansson, Kerry Washington, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Tyler Perry, Bradley Cooper, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Stone, Laura Dern, Reese Witherspoon, and Ryan Reynolds.
The strike has affected a lot of film and television productions, and worse, left actors and crew members with no work and pay. As Drescher stated in her video explanation via Instagram:
“Sometimes in life when you introduce an unprecedented business model like they did on all of my members with streaming, an unprecedented compensation structure must also go along with it. It may not be easy, it may not be what they want, but it is an elegant way to solve the problem so we can all go back to work in what would become the new normal.”
The SAG-AFTRA committee said they are grateful for the actors who shared their ideas and support in helping solve the problem, and it is a worthy consideration, though it would have no bearing on the present contract.
