{"id":8335,"date":"2023-07-22T09:02:03","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T15:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/?p=8335"},"modified":"2023-07-21T21:38:43","modified_gmt":"2023-07-22T03:38:43","slug":"actors-join-the-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/2023\/07\/22\/actors-join-the-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Actors Join the Strike!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Those of you who have been following the news out of Hollywood will already know that SAG-AFTRA, the actor&#8217;s union, has gone on strike, joining the Writers Guild of America (WGA).\u00a0 We have been striking since May 2.\u00a0\u00a0 If you&#8217;re in LA or NYC or&#8230; sometimes&#8230; here in Santa Fe, you may have seen our picket lines.\u00a0\u00a0 The pickets have gotten bigger since the actors joined us, and you may see some familiar faces holding signs.<\/p>\n<p>Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA, gave a rousing speech when the announcing the strike.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Watch: Fran Drescher delivers fiery speech on SAG-AFTRA strike\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/J4SAPOX7R5M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Not much I can add to that, except &#8220;AMEN.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The SAG contract ended on June 30, but the actors gave AMPTP every chance to reach an equitable agreement by extending negotiations to July 12.\u00a0 That proved to be a futile gesture.\u00a0 The studios did not move an inch from their previous positions, and still refuse to address some of the most important issues on the table, including AI and payments and residuals from streaming.\u00a0\u00a0 They gave the actors no choice but to walk.<\/p>\n<p>As for the writers&#8230; well, the studios are not even<strong><em> TALKING<\/em><\/strong> to us.\u00a0\u00a0 All negotiations between AMPTP and the WGA shut down back in May when the strike started.\u00a0 It is hard to reach any agreement when\u00a0 the other side won&#8217;t even come to the table.<\/p>\n<p>I joined the WGA in 1986 and have been through several strikes with them.\u00a0 We made gains in all of them, but some issues are more important than others&#8230; and this year&#8217;s strike is the most important of my lifetime.\u00a0 An unnamed producer was quoted last week saying the AMPTP strategy was to stand fast until the writers started losing their homes and apartments, which gives you a hint of what we&#8217;re facing.<\/p>\n<p>But we ARE facing it.\u00a0 I have never seen such unity in the Guilds; the strike authorization votes for both SAG and WGA were as close to unanimous as we are ever likely to see.<\/p>\n<p>No one can be certain where we go from here, but I have a bad feeling that this strike will be long and bitter.\u00a0 It may get as bad as the infamous 1985 strike, though I hope not.<\/p>\n<p>You may be wondering how all this has affected me and my own projects.<\/p>\n<p>Well, the second season of <strong><em>DARK WINDS<\/em><\/strong> wrapped before either strike began.\u00a0\u00a0 Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee will be returning to television on July 30, on AMC and AMC+.\u00a0\u00a0 Union members will not be participating in any promotions, however&#8230; at least the actors and writers won&#8217;t (you may see some directors, since the DGA settled and signed a deal with the studios).\u00a0\u00a0 The <em><strong>DARK WINDS<\/strong><\/em> premieres that AMC had scheduled for New York and LA have both been cancelled.<\/p>\n<p>San Diego Comicon is being held as usual, but virtually all the big television and film promotions that\u00a0 usually occur there have been cancelled, after the stars and writers all pulled out.\u00a0\u00a0 SDCC may need to return to its roots, and focus on comic books and the writers and artists who produce them.\u00a0 (Excelsior!).<\/p>\n<p>I have been on several pickets here in New Mexico.\u00a0 So far as I know, all the shows shooting here have shut down.\u00a0\u00a0 So have most of the films and television shows shooting in LA.\u00a0\u00a0 The studios can stockpile scripts, but they can&#8217;t stockpile the actors.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-8340\" src=\"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/IMG_4129-611x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"611\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/IMG_4129-611x1024.jpg 611w, https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/IMG_4129-179x300.jpg 179w, https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/IMG_4129.jpg 656w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 611px) 100vw, 611px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>(No, that&#8217;s not me).<\/p>\n<p>One of the few shows till shooting is <em><strong>HOUSE OF THE DRAGON<\/strong><\/em>, as you may have read.\u00a0\u00a0 That&#8217;s true.\u00a0\u00a0 I am told the second season is half done.\u00a0\u00a0<em><strong> ALL<\/strong><\/em> of the scripts had been finished months before the WGA strike began.\u00a0\u00a0 No writing has been done since, to the best of my knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0 HOT D is shot mostly in London (and a little bit in Wales, Spain, and various other locations), which is why filming has continued.\u00a0 The actors are members of the British union, Equity, not SAG-AFTRA, and though Equity strongly supports their American cousins (they have a big rally planned to show that support), British law forbids them from staging a sympathy strike.\u00a0\u00a0 If they walk, they have no protection against being fired for breach of contract, or even sued.<\/p>\n<p>((Honestly, I was shocked to hear that.\u00a0\u00a0 One of the two major UK political parties, Labour, has its roots in the trade union movement.\u00a0 How in the world could they have allowed such anti-labor regulations to be enacted?\u00a0\u00a0 Seems to me that Labour Party really needs to do a better job of protecting the right to strike)).<\/p>\n<p>As for me personally, my overall deal with HBO was suspended on June 1.<\/p>\n<p>I still have plenty to do, of course.\u00a0\u00a0 In that, I am one of the lucky ones.\u00a0\u00a0 (These strikes are not really about name writers or producers or showrunners, most of whom are fine; we&#8217;re striking for the entry level writers, the story editors, the students hoping to break in, the actor who has four lines, the guy working his first staff job who dreams of creating his own show one day, as I did back in the 80s).<\/p>\n<p>Last week we had a great meeting with the producers on <em><strong>THE IRON THRONE<\/strong><\/em>, the stage play we&#8217;ve been working on the past few years.\u00a0 The scripts for that one are coming along well, and it&#8217;s got me very excited.\u00a0\u00a0 SAG-AFTRA covers television and film, but not the stage, so the strike has no impact there.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe we will even be able to bring the show to the West End by&#8230; well, no, better not say, do not want to jinx the project.<\/p>\n<p>I have also been editing a couple new Wild Cards books.\u00a0\u00a0 <em><strong>PAIRING UP<\/strong><\/em> just came out, but we&#8217;re still working on <strong><em>SLEEPER STRADDLE<\/em><\/strong> and <strong><em>HOUSE RULES<\/em><\/strong> for Bantam.<\/p>\n<p>And, yes, yes, of course, I&#8217;ve been working on <em><strong>WINDS OF WINTER<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Almost every day.\u00a0 Writing, rewriting, editing, writing some more.\u00a0\u00a0 Making steady progress.\u00a0\u00a0 Not as fast as I would like.. .certainly not as fast as<em><strong> YOU\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> would like&#8230; but progress nonetheless.<\/p>\n<p>It keeps me out of trouble.<\/p>\n<p>So that&#8217;s the latest from the front lines.\u00a0\u00a0 I hope we will have your support.\u00a0 HONK if you see us picketing&#8230; and NEVER cross a picket line&#8230; and maybe we will be able to get this settled quickly.\u00a0\u00a0 <em><strong>Before<\/strong><\/em> we all lose our houses&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Those of you who have been following the news out of Hollywood will already know that SAG-AFTRA, the actor&#8217;s union, has gone on strike, joining the Writers Guild of America (WGA).\u00a0 We have been striking since May 2.\u00a0\u00a0 If you&#8217;re in LA or NYC or&#8230; sometimes&#8230; here in Santa Fe, you may have seen our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[327,18,326],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8335"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8335"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8347,"href":"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8335\/revisions\/8347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgerrmartin.com\/notablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}