Striking actors tap signs together on a picket line outside Walt Disney Studios, Friday, Oct. 20, 2023, in Burbank, Calif. Saturday marks the 100th day of the SAG-AFTRA strike, which is now the longest of the union's history. LOS ANGELES - While screenwriters are busy back at work, film and TV actors remain on picket lines, with the longest strike in their history hitting the 100-day mark Saturday after talks broke off with studios.
“We only met with them a couple of times, Monday, half a day Wednesday, half a day Friday. That was what they were available for,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher told The Associated Press soon after the talks broke off. “Then this past week, it was Monday and a half a day on Wednesday. And then, `Bye-bye.' I've never really met people that actually don't understand what negotiations mean.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, one of the executives in on the bargaining sessions, told investors on an earnings call Wednesday, “This really broke our momentum unfortunately.” The studios said just after the talks broke off that the per-subscriber charge would cost them $800 million annually, a figure SAG-AFTRA said was a vast overestimate.
In each case, emerging technology fueled the dispute. In 1960 - the only previous time actors and writers struck simultaneously - the central issue was actors seeking pay for when their work in film was aired on television, compensation the industry calls residuals. The union, headed by future U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was a smaller and much less formal entity then.
A 1980 strike would be the actors' longest for film and television until this year. That time, they were seeking payment for their work when it appeared on home video cassettes and cable TV, along with significant hikes in minimum compensation for roles. A tentative deal was reached with significant gains but major compromises in both areas. Union leadership declared the strike over after 67 days, but many members were unhappy and balked at returning to work.