All You Need to Know About The SAG-AFTRA and WGA Strikes

BY GITIKA “AKI” SANJAY

On July 14 of this year, the hustle and bustle of Hollywood came to a resounding stop. 

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, known more commonly as SAG-AFTRA, went on strike, after months of negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The strike, which is still ongoing, has grown to become one of the most covered and most impactful of its kind, addressing growing issues creatives now face in the age of streaming and artificial intelligence. SAG-AFTRA was joined in their strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) although the WGA has since come to a preliminary deal with the AMPTP.

To contextualise the dual strikes, it is essential first to understand the makeup of both SAG-AFTRA and the WGA. SAG-AFTRA describes themselves as the “faces and the voices that entertain and inform America and the world” (SAG-AFTRA). It brings together two American labour unions, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Both organisations date back to the 1930s and have throughout the past century secured protections for media artists. 

The Writers Guild of America is also a joint effort, uniting an east and west branch of the guild, respectively headquartered in New York City and Los Angeles. It is composed of, as the name indicates, writers: those who “write the content for television shows, movies, news programs, documentaries, animation, and Internet and mobile phones (new media) that keep audiences constantly entertained and informed.” The Writers Guild began in 1921, when ten screenwriters took action against proposed wage deductions, but has since grown to represent professional writers throughout America.

The Writers Guild was the first to strike this year when the deadline for a new agreement with the AMPTP passed in May without a ratified contract. “Negotiations between the AMPTP and the WGA concluded without an agreement today,” AMPTP stated at the time. The causes for the writers strike were many and multifaceted: writers sought compensation for streaming residuals, increased pay and protections, and a solution to mini-rooms. Mini-rooms, People magazine covered, describe an increasingly popular process in which a limited group of writers construct scripts for a potential show prior to production. 

The issue that took centre-stage, however, was the effect of streaming services on adequate pay: in a report entitled “Writers Are Not Keeping Up,” the WGA wrote that “regardless of experience” writers were “working at minimum [wage]...often for fewer weeks, or in mini-rooms, while showrunners are left without a writing staff to complete the season.” The union added that while “series budgets have soared over the past decade,” writer-producer pay has dropped. Simply put, while content has grown dramatically, the subsequent rise of streaming services has led to cut pay for writers, producers, and actors.

The AMPTP did agree on the truth of diminished pay, but the solutions it offered were starkly lower than what the WGA requested. The WGA proposals would have led to a gain of approximately $429 million annually, according to the guild, while the AMPTP’s offer would only lead to an increase of $86 million. The conflict grew through early 2023, and once the existing WGA-AMPTP contract expired without successful negotiations, the WGA officially declared themselves on strike.

SAG-AFTRA followed soon after, joining the 6,000 members of the WGA on the picket line. Following, once again, failed negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP, the union’s president Fran Drescher addressed the “serious moment” the strike introduced. “You cannot keep being dwindled and marginalised,” she commented in a press conference, “disrespected and dishonoured. The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, and AI. This is a moment of history that is a moment of truth.”

Actors are striking for similar reasons to writers: better pay, safer working conditions, and protections against artificial intelligence. Pay for actors has dwindled, especially concerning residuals: payments actors receive when their work is re-aired or re-released. Actors technically receive residuals when their projects are released on streaming but at a much lower rate. The streaming ecosystem has “eroded” actors’ compensation, Drescher wrote in an open letter. During the strike, SAG-AFTRA actors shared the truth of the residual system: Reservation Dogs actress Jana Schmieding revealed that she only received three cents each quarter for the show’s unlimited availability on FX, Hulu, and Disney.

While pay fairness has motivated and influenced media-related strikes historically, a notably new issue has been emphasised by both SAG-AFTRA and the WGA: the use of artificial intelligence. Members of both unions have repeatedly expressed concern about the use of artificial intelligence, which could essentially use an actor’s likeness without requiring studios to pay the actor. An open letter to SAG-AFTRA stated that it is essential that actors are “compensated” if any of their work is used to “train AI.” The unfair use of artificial intelligence in studios would exploit the work of actors, performers, and writers alike.

AMPTP did not respond kindly to the strikes, claiming in a statement that the decision to go on strike was the “Union’s choice” - not theirs. “In doing so,” the statement read, “[the Union] has dismissed [AMPTP’s] offer of historic pay and residual increases…audition protections..a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses, and more.” Despite this claim, SAG-AFTRA and the WGA members have been clear about the gaps between their needs and the AMPTP’s proposals, particularly concerning pay and artificial intelligence.

While the SAG-AFTRA strike is ongoing, the WGA strike did come to a historic end on September 24, after 146 days. It marked the second-longest strike in all of Hollywood history and ended with a WGA-AMPTP agreement announced by the union to its membership on September 26. Officially, the strike ended early September 27th: “We can say, with great pride,” the WGA stated, “that this deal is exceptional.”

From the summary released, the WGA appears successful in its petitions: the new contract includes increases to the minimum wage and compensation for writers, better pension and health benefits, longer employment periods, and larger writing teams. It also addresses artificial intelligence: the agreement doesn’t stop the use of generative AI but prohibits using the software to reduce or eliminate human writers. Rather, it places the option in the hands of the writers themselves; a writer can “choose to use AI…if the company consents…but the company can’t require the writer to use AI software.” Writers’ material, additionally, cannot be used to train AI - an important acknowledgment given the rapid growth of artificial intelligence.

While the end of the WGA strike is crucial in securing sufficient protections and pay for creatives, the SAG-AFTRA strike is ongoing, and actors are still working to secure a fair contract from AMPTP. Unfortunately, the talks have stalled and were suspended in mid-October, with The Guardian reporting that the two sides “clashed,” leading to a “breakdown in talks.” The now-three-month work stoppage has significantly affected the California economy and left thousands of SAG-AFTRA members without work, leaving many hopeful that the end of the WGA strike indicated the same for SAG-AFTRA. However, SAG-AFTRA revealed that despite negotiating with the studios, they had been offered “less than [AMPTP] proposed before the strike began” and that the AMPTP CEOs refused to counter the union’s offers. 

An ongoing point of contention is the share of streaming revenue delivered to cast members: the AMPTP claimed SAG-AFTRA’s proposal would create a massive economic burden, costing over $800 million annually, but the union contrastingly stated that their request was overstated by 60% in AMPTP’s report. Artificial intelligence remains contentious: the union said studios have refused to “protect performers from being replaced by AI.”

It is unclear when SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP will reach a deal agreeable to both sides, but until then, television and film that fall under the AMPTP will continue to be halted.

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