Leaders of a Hollywood's actors union voted Thursday to join screenwriters in the first joint strike in more than six decades, shutting down production across the entertainment industry after talks for a new contract with studios and streaming services broke down.
It's the first strike for actors from film and television shows since 1980. And it's the first time two major Hollywood unions have been on strike at the same time since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was the actors' guild president. The looming strike also cast a shadow over the upcoming 75th Emmy Awards, whose nominations were announced a day earlier.
A nearly two-week extension of the contract, and negotiations, only heightened the hostility between the two groups. Drescher said the extension made us "feel like we'd been duped, like maybe it was just to let studios promote their summer movies for another 12 days." The stakes in the negotiations included both base and residual pay, which actors say has been undercut by inflation and the streaming ecosystem, benefits, and the threat of unregulated use of artificial intelligence.
"Performers deserve to share in the success of the work we do for these global, multi-billion-dollar companies," said the statement from AEA President Kate Shindle. "Nobody should step in front of a camera fearing that today's work will be mined, manipulated or repurposed in the future without consent or compensation.