Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, executive director of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists, said at a news conference that the union leadership voted for the work stoppage hours after their contract expired and talks broke off with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers representing employers including Disney, Netflix, Amazon and others.
With a stoppage looming, the premiere of Christopher Nolan's film "Oppenheimer" in London was moved up an hour so that the cast could walk the red carpet before the SAG board's announcement. "This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption," Iger said in an appearance on CNBC. "There's a level of expectation that have that is just not realistic."
When the initial deadline approached in late June, more than 1,000 members of the union, including Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and Bob Odenkirk, added their names to a letter signaling to leaders their willingness to strike.