As the SAG-AFTRA strike seems to have hit a major stalemate, a group of major Hollywood stars — George Clooney, Emma Stone, Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry, and Scarlett Johansson — are taking matters into their own hands. The six have proposed a solution to the strike by eliminating the cap on membership dues for the guild’s wealthiest members.
The six stars made this proposal to SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and lead negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland during an October 17 Zoom call, as reported by Deadline. Their pitch focused on removing the current $1 million cap SAG-AFTRA places on membership dues, and charging the A-list stars that are members of the guild with higher fees. The coalition estimated the removal would bring over $50 million to the union annually, and over $150 million over the next three years.
In addition, they pitched a bottom-up residual structure, that would make it so the lowest people on a show or film‘s call sheet would be the first to receive payment. The six stars pitched this proposal as a way to close the gap between negotiation efforts between SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers during the strike, and to bolster the guild’s efforts to improve health benefits for its members.
“A lot of the top earners want to be part of the solution,” Clooney said in a statement. “We’ve offered to remove the cap on dues, which would bring over $50 million to the union annually. Well over $150 million over the next three years. 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.”
A representative for Clooney confirmed the news and the actor’s statements to IndieWire.
SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July 13 this year, after the guild’s contract with AMPTP expired June 30. SAG went on strike a month after the Writers Guild of America began their work stoppage. After the WGA strike ended in late September, with the negotiation of a new contract, the SAG strike briefly seemed on the verge of ending, as the guild and AMPTP met five times from October 2 to October 11.
However, talks were suspended, with AMPTP saying that “the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction.” In response SAG issued a statement saying that the offer given to them by AMPTP was worth less than what was originally given to them in July during initial negotiations. They also accused AMPTP of using “bullying tactics” to paint the guild as on the wrong side of the situation.
Additional reporting by Christian Blauvelt.
