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The SAG-AFTRA strike has taken a new turn, with studios announcing that they are looking to strike a deal within the next week, failing which, they would not be interested in further negotiations till at least January 2024. This is because a resolution after November would be futile for the studios, which would miss out on Christmas film promotions and the Fall TV schedule. This is also one of the ways to put additional pressure on SAG-AFTRA.
Of course, this revelation, reported by The Wrap earlier, resulted in some panic amongst the actors, who faced the possibility of not having any work for a significant amount of time in the future. But on Thursday, October 26, more than 3,600 SAG-AFTRA members signed an open letter stating that they would rather stay on strike than give in to the demands of the studios.
While some have considered the newer offers of the studios, this group, named Members in Solidarity, refuses to stand down amidst the threats from the studios. This group includes some of the most prominent names in the world, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Hamm, Maya Hawke, Marisa Tomei, John Leguizamo, and Bryan Cranston.
"We have not come all this way to cave now": SAG-AFTRA's open letter to the studios
Especially after the latest development with the studios on Thursday, where they revealed plans to stop negotiations for the next two months, it seemed that some parties in the SAG-AFTRA group might be willing to give in. However, it seems that the majority of the actors in the guild are unwilling to change their stance.
In the open letter, where the actors clarified their stance, they wrote:
"[The Guild] are still standing in solidarity, ready to strike as long as it takes and to endure whatever we must in order to win a deal that is worthy of our collective sacrifice.
"We have not come all this way to cave now...We have not gone without work, without pay and walked picket lines for months just to give up on everything we’ve been fighting for. We cannot and will not accept a contract that fails to address the vital and existential problems that we all need fixed."
This seemingly negates the pressure that studios tried to pin on the protestors. If both sides refuse to back down, the protests could go on to 2024.
As of October 27, 2023, the strike entered a record-breaking 105 days, the longest in the history of SAG-AFTRA.
