Stars on Strike: See the Actors on the SAG-AFTRA and WGA Picket Lines (Photo Gallery)

The Writers Guild of America strike has been underway since May, but this July, SAG-AFTRA joined the chorus of Hollywood dissenters fed up with outmoded contracts with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Hollywood is now officially on strike, with production on nearly all AMPTP-associated film and television projects featuring SAG-AFTRA talent at a standstill — and actors are now taking to the picket lines in unity to voice their concerns over residuals, the threat of artificial intelligence, and challenging working conditions from meal breaks to long hours.

Now that SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP failed to achieve a deal on a new minimum bargaining agreement after SAG-AFTRA contracts expired July 12 — even after an initial extension — actors are on full work-stoppage orders. That means no participation in productions or promoting their SAG-AFTRA-certified work, past or present, and that includes press tours and red carpets and festival appearances. (More on what the actors can and can’t do right now here.)

“This is a very seminal hour for us. I went in in earnest thinking that we would be able to avert a strike,” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said in a rousing speech announcing the strike on July 13. “The gravity of this move is not lost on me or our negotiating committee, or our board members, who have voted unanimously to proceed with a strike. It’s a very serious thing that impacts thousands if not millions of people all across this country and around the world.”

IndieWire has been reporting on the strikes since Day 1, with actors, writers, filmmakers, and creative talent from above and below the line calling out Hollywood greed and expressing dismay over the AMPTP’s refusal to budge on key issues they’re arguing for.

Films are getting pulled off the release calendar and out of festivals as studios scramble to open their movies without talent on hand to promote them — which is especially dire for top Hollywood brass as we head into the film awards season, and with the Emmys close by on September 18.

Below, check out a photo roundup of actors who’ve been seen on the picket lines this month.

from News – IndieWire https://ift.tt/mYt0cHK