Actors strike looms as deadline nears, union slams producers’ tactics

Another strike is looming over Hollywood.

If extended talks between the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers fail by midnight in Los Angeles, 160,000 actors will join already-striking writers on the picket lines on Thursday.

Heading into negotiations last month, Hollywood’s talent was looking to improve wages, working conditions, and health and pension benefits, as well as create guardrails for the use of artificial intelligence in future television and film productions.

The actors’ union agreed to a request from studios and streaming services on Tuesday to meet with federal mediators in one final push to reach a new contract deal, but members said they remain ready to walk off sets should negotiations fall through. The union has already granted one extension to its contract, which was originally set to expire July 1.

SAG-AFTRA disputed reports that the AMPTP made the request for mediation after an emergency meeting Monday with several top Hollywood executives. The union said media reports were published before it was informed that producers were requesting mediation.

“We will not be distracted from negotiating in good faith to secure a fair and just deal by the expiration of our agreement,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement Tuesday. “We are committed to the negotiating process and will explore and exhaust every possible opportunity to make a deal, however we are not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement.”

“The AMPTP has abused our trust and damaged the respect we have for them in this process,” SAG-AFTRA’s statement continued. “We will not be manipulated by this cynical ploy to engineer an extension when the companies have had more than enough time to make a fair deal.”

SAG-AFTRA’s comments come as damning reports have surfaced about tactics studio producers allegedly plan to implement against the currently striking Writers Guild of America — namely, that producers don’t plan on attempting to negotiate with writers for several months. According to the reports, producers expect that the underpaid workers will run out of money and possibly lose their homes and be forced to come to the bargaining table.

Writers have been on strike for two months, leading a number of projects that did not have completed scripts to pause their productions.

Already Netflix has postponed the production start of the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things,” Warner Bros. Discovery‘s “Game of Thrones” prequel “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight” shuttered its writers room, and Disney and Marvel’s “Thunderbolts” and “Blade” have paused production.

Some productions have been able to continue, albeit without writers on set, as their scripts were already completed. However, if SAG-AFTRA strikes, those shows and films will immediately stop shooting.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.