The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman is reporting that the studios (AMPTP) are telling the actors (SAG-AFTRA) that if no deal is made by the end of this week then they will be halting all negotiations until January. Yikes.
According to an insider Waxman spoke to, If that is the case, then the fall TV season is lost and new movies won’t be coming out until next summer. The studios are ready to pack it up for the year, they couldn’t care less about the losses.
Early November would be the drop-dead date to salvage any ability to put television or movies into production. Once the calendar hits Thanksgiving, it is unlikely any project would begin production, pushing off everything to the new year, this individual said, and killing the studios’ incentive to push for a deal.
The actors have been on strike since July 14. The negotiations restarted this week, on Tuesday, a mere two weeks after CEOs walked away from the negotiating table “over a new demand that SAG-AFTRA receive a $1-per-subscription fee from streaming divisions”.