George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Scarlett Johansson and a group of other A-listers gave a proposal to SAG-AFTRA leadership on Tuesday, which they hoped would help end the 98-day actors strike.
But the proposal was rejected on Wednesday by the union’s negotiating committee, which is sticking to the demands it has spelled out over many weeks of negotiations.
In other words, neither of these proposals addresses the problems that have kept actors on strike for 98 days. Those issues are: a union proposal to pay actors a share of streaming revenue, an increase in minimums to keep pace with inflation, and regulations on artificial intelligence.
From the standpoint of the SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee, however, the proposal appears to weaken the sense of unity and commitment to the committee’s proposals — which is key to reaching the best possible deal. It also suggests that high-earning actors should somehow step in to pay for things that the studios have refused to pay for — thereby lessening the pressure on the studios to pony up.