American actors will be joining writers on picket lines, after members of the US acting guild voted to take strike action.
The decision to walk out means that for the first time in 63 years, both SAG-AFTRA (the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and WGA (the Writers Guild of America) will be on strike at the same time.
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On Thursday, SAG-AFTRA – a union which represents 160,000 performers – voted unanimously to recommend a strike after talks with Hollywood studios failed to reach an agreement.
The guild criticised the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) for their “insulting and disrespectful” response to actors’ demands, claiming they had been “stonewalled completely” on certain issues.
The studios called the failure to reach an agreement “deeply disappointing”.
Two of the actors’ big demands are higher pay and safeguards against unauthorised use of their images through artificial intelligence (AI).
The decision for performers to strike means that Hollywood – already hit by two months without its writers – will come to a virtual standstill, with many predicting an autumn TV schedule full of reality TV as a result.