By Natalia Rueda 
The relationship between Hollywood actors and scriptwriters remains contentious as both sides demand fairer salaries and better protection against the use of artificial intelligence. After months of negotiations, the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) announced it will be holding a board vote on whether to join the writers’ strike. This could potentially impact more than 160,000 Hollywood actors, including those at Netflix, Disney, Amazon, and Warner.
SAG-AFTRA has joined the scriptwriters in their strike, formally declaring a stoppage of activities after more than four weeks of unsuccessful negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The protests seeking salary increases to combat inflation, residual pay adjustments and new protections for the use of Artificial Intelligence in productions.
WGA claims that writers are struggling financially as major production and streaming companies continue to make large profits from the streaming boom.
Following the announcement, Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC that the expectations expressed in the strike call were “not realistic,” and described the call as “very disturbing.” However, other voices in the industry, such as that of Phil Lord, have indicted the AMPTP, citing that “Amptp has played hardball instead of helping solve fully solvable problems that endanger writers and actors on the lower rungs of the pay scale.”
Support for the strike call by the SAG-AFTRA has been widespread, with union President Fran Drescher expressing her dismay at how the AMPTP “treat us,” going on to explain that “we had no choice.”
The picketing will commence on Friday morning, as part of a wider strike which has been underway for more than seventy days. It is unknown how the strike will affect the film and television industry, and the ultimate resolution of the matter, but it looks set to be a long summer for those in the industry.