By Maia Venuti
Staff Writer
Last month, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG AFTRA), which represents over 160,000 various media professionals across the globe, went on strike. Fran Drescher, the president of SAG AFTRA since 2021, has become the face of this strike, delivering blow after blow to Hollywood executives denying the union’s requests.
The requests of SAG AFTRA include better residual pay from streaming services, fairer wages, safer working conditions and, similarly to the writer’s guild strike that began in May, the assurance that their jobs will not be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI). Media executives like Disney CEO Bob Iger have called SAG AFTRA’s demands unreasonable and “unrealistic.”
However, Drescher has assured executives that they will not back down and that these executives are on the “wrong side of history.” Drescher and company lambasted Iger for his insensitivity to the seriousness of the situation, labeling him as out of touch and repugnant.
One of the issues raised by the SAG AFTRA strike is that they are in protest of the use of AI, similar to what the writer’s guild has been protesting since May. In the past year, AI has become extremely prominent in the media, with people even using AI to write scripts for movies and TV shows. This proves a huge threat to writers as it could potentially leave them out of jobs, replacing them with AI.
This is not the first time actors have gone on strike due to their requests not being met by executives. However, the impact of SAG AFTRA’s strike is going to have severe consequences for Hollywood. Under the strike, actors are not allowed to promote their upcoming films or shows, nor are they allowed to attend work. This means that projects that were being filmed are completely halted and release dates may be seriously postponed.
Some of the movies that are likely to have pushed back or have delayed releases are “Challengers,” “Spiderman: Beyond the Spiderverse,” “Problemista,” a remake of “Dirty Dancing,” “Dune: Part Two,” “The Color Purple,” “Deadpool 3,” “Wicked,” “Beetlejuice 2,” a live-action remake of “Lilo and Stitch,” “Interview with the Vampire” and “Juror #2.” All of these films are currently being affected by the actor’s strike, and it is likely that further delays to other movies will occur if the strike continues.
The actors are refusing to come back to work unless their needs are met by executives, a move that will severely halt all current productions. The actors hope that the ripple effect of this will be enough to bring executives back to the bargaining table to work out some kind of agreement.
