The two big sticking points between the actors union and the AMPTP, explained.
The Hollywood writers strike officially ended on Tuesday, October 10, when the Writers Guild of America (WGA) voted to ratify its contract with the AMPTP (the organization that represents Hollywood’s major studios and production companies). But the actors are still very much on the picket line — and there’s no clear end in sight.
SAG-AFTRA — the 160,000-member union that represents Hollywood’s actors and performers — has been in talks with the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) since October 2. But late in the evening on October 11, the AMPTP released a statement announcing that talks had been suspended, illuminating the first of two major sticking points in the negotiations.
“It is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction,” the AMPTP’s statement read. The studios laid out their proposals in the statement, highlighting SAG-AFTRA’s demand for a “viewership bonus” that the studios claim would cost an additional $800 million per year, an “untenable economic burden.
