Posted in: Movies, streaming, TV | Tagged: amptp, DGA, SAG-AFTRA, wga

SAG-AFTRA, AMPTP Negotiations Are Expected to Continue on Monday

Amid some positive rumblings over the past few days, negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP are expected to continue on Monday.

With the strike now at its 108th day, communications between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP continued on Sunday regarding their efforts to reach a new three-year deal. While there has been a growing optimistic buzz over the past few days, both the studios & streamers and actors union have kept their on-the-record public comments on lockdown – which is a nice way of saying that there's a lot of "source reporting" going on. Reports are that AMPTP president Carol Lombardini and SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, and their respective negotiating teams spoke virtually a number of times over the course of the day. As was the case on Saturday, Disney's Bob Iger, NBCUniversal's Donna Langley, Warner Bros Discovery's David Zaslav, and Netflix's Ted Sarandos were reportedly not involved with today's discussions. Communications are expected to continue into the start of the week, though neither the union nor the studios & streamers have released an official statement on the matter at the time of this writing.

SNL: SAG-AFTRA/AMPTP, Fran Drescher & Halloween Guidelines

In the sketch, first-time host/stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze and SNL cast member Ego Nwodim portrayed a couple giving out candy on Halloween night – only to receive a visit from Sarah Sherman's SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, making sure everyone knows "how to do Halloween during a strike." That means no costumes representing IPs from struck companies – because otherwise, "we would be promoting the companies we're striking against, which makes all of these children a bunch of adorable scabs" (Ryan Reynolds, take note). From there, Drescher offers some advice on other costume options – like "Harry Potter" (but as J.K. Rowling portrays him in her books), lesser-known characters from the Bible (ones that haven't made it to the big or small screens), turning Mario into every cartoon character on every pizza box, etc.

Nwodim's character tells Sherman's Drescher, "That must be exhausting" after Drescher shares that the SAG-AFTRA strike has broken past the 100-day mark. "Hey, did you just call me exhausting? Well, a lot of people have," Sherman's Drescher responded defensively, very possibly a nod to the rollercoaster month that SAG-AFTRA has had (union members offering their own plans to end the strike, the pushback on the Halloween guidelines, etc.). But Sherman didn't forget who the biggest target was in all of this – using a perfect Halloween metaphor to explain what the deal is with AMPTP. "Negotiating with the studios is a lot like trick or treating. You know how you go to the biggest house on the block, and all the lights are off, and they're pretending they're not home? But you can see them through the window eating Kit Kat bars, dozens of Kit Kat bars, billions of Kit Kat bars, record numbers of Kit Kat bars? All actors are saying is, 'Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar,'" Sherman's Drescher shared.

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