John Angelillo

Update: The actors’ strike finally ended on Nov. 9. Click here to read more.

From May 2 to Sept. 27, there was an ongoing strike initiated by the Writers Guild of America (WGA)—representing 11,500 screenwriters. They went on strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The dispute finally ended when most of their demands were finally met.

However, productions in Hollywood still can’t return to normal because the actors are still striking. According to Wikipedia, since July 14, the American actors’ union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) have also been on strike over an ongoing labor dispute with the AMPTP.

Because of the writers’ strike, many projects were postponed and delayed due to a lack of writers, and later down the line, it initiated the actors’ strike, which is over streaming revenue, the use of artificial intelligence and other issues at the core of a three-month work stoppage.

Actor George Clooney recently told Deadline that the actors are willing to negotiate.

“We’ve offered to remove the cap on dues, which would bring over $50 million to the union annually…” Clooney said. “We think it’s fair for us to pay more into the union. We also are suggesting a bottom-up residual structure — meaning the top of the call sheet would be the last to collect residuals, not the first. These negotiations will be ongoing, but we wanted to show that we’re all in this together and find ways to help close the gap on actors getting paid.”

The actors’ union and AMPTP resumed negotiations on Oct. 24, but after a full day of discussions, the meeting ended without a resolution with plans to meet again on Oct. 25.

If the actors and AMPTP cannot come to an agreement soon, it may result in the retirement of some actors and the cancellation of many projects and media, which translates in the loss of revenue for studios and the loss of jobs for many employees.