Actors, Hollywood studios talks get discouraging update

Despite the WGA and Hollywood studios' agreement, the deal related to another union, SAG-AFTRA, with the AMPTP is far from near as the actors' strike is inching toward 100 days.

As the heated negotiations between the warring parties commenced, a glimmer of hope was expected to break the deadlock over the share of streaming revenue, guardrail against the rising AI tech, and others.

But the latest rounds of talks ended in blame games, with the head of the SAG union, Fran Drescher, blasting the opposite side for employing "bully tactics" and "the same failed strategy they tried to inflict on the WGA" to cripple the deliberations.

The union released the statement after the breakdown in talks. "We feel the pain these companies have inflicted on our members, our strike captains, IATSE, Teamsters and Basic Crafts union members, and everyone in this industry."

Meanwhile, the group representing the studios, AMPTP, claimed to have presented a reasonable offer to the union, which the latter rejected.

"After meaningful conversations, 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 statement added.

Starting on July 14, the SAG-AFTRA strike has put the fate of several major projects in limbo as talks have ended without any meaningful outcome.