SAG has released it’s detailed breakdown of it’s issues, and the AMPTP has released their breakdown as well.
And you can see the complete differences between the two. And as this Variety article shows they are even telling different stories about the offers.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s executive director, alleged that the studios want to pay an extra for one day of work to be scanned, and then reuse that likeness forever. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers hotly disputed that, saying that its proposal explicitly limits the reuse to the project for which the extra was hired.
Gene Maddaus – SAG-AFTRA Strike: Negotiations Cratered Over AI, Streaming Revenue Sharing, Pay Hikes and More
When you have this much vitriol and the two sides can’t even agree over what was offered there is no chance of quick reconciliation.
According to sources on both sides, the biggest sticking point is the union’s demand for 2% of the revenue generated by streaming shows. The two sides also remain far apart on basic increases in minimum rates, with the studios offering 5%, 4% and 3.5% across the three years of the contract, while the union is demanding 11%, 4% and 4%.
Gene Maddaus – SAG-AFTRA Strike: Negotiations Cratered Over AI, Streaming Revenue Sharing, Pay Hikes and More
I am sure the 2% revenue is a huge sticking point. First off how do you show the revenue a show has added in streaming. I know SAG wants to use an outside company, that looks at a shows impact on social media. So they want a piece of shows that are big hits, like shows on Network used to go into syndication and that was where the money was. The thing is streaming shows are a completely different model. And I will bet their will never be an agreement on this point, especially since most streaming services are not any where close to making a profit.
SAG-AFTRA is also seeking a 230% increase in foreign streaming residuals, according to a studio source. The AMPTP is offering the same increase provided to the DGA: 76%.
Gene Maddaus – SAG-AFTRA Strike: Negotiations Cratered Over AI, Streaming Revenue Sharing, Pay Hikes and More
The DGA made a deal, and all I see is vitriol over the DGA deal from WGA and SAG members, but they made a deal that all directors were OK with, and an increase of over 3 times of what the directors got seems excessive. And yes they deserve more on residuals, but to ask 230% for this 3 years, are they going to ask for the same again in 3 years?
You can also see the WGA negotiations status, though, I haven’t been able to find the AMPTP offer for them, but there are similar differences.
I wish the AMPTP would run the numbers on some of these proposals and show current costs vs costs if these deals went through as asked, as I get the feeling the expense of these would make shows so much more expensive that we would already get less shows. And with streamers already cutting back on new expensive shows, with even less shows, it is going to hurt everyone.
I do think that the studios need to be transparent on streaming numbers and residuals, and if they were you could obviously see which shows are the big hits.
It does seem like there is little negotiating on this. There are the union demands, and the studio offer, and neither wants to budge at all, which is not a negotiation. And it isn’t just one side that has to give, but both.