Hollywood stars may join writers’ strike

Hollywood's big stars including Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Bob Odenkirk have come out in support of writers’ strike. 

In a letter to Hollywood actors union last week, top actors had said that they were ready to walk off the job if negotiators failed to reach a “transformative deal” on higher base pay and safeguards around use of artificial intelligence (AI).

More than 1,000 of them have added their names to a letter to negotiators saying they are willing to strike, and are concerned they are “ready to make sacrifices that leadership is not”.

The walkout by 11,500 writers has shut down a wide swath of TV production and delayed the filming of movies including Marvel's "Thunderbolts" and "Blade."

And any ongoing filming would also have to halt if Hollywood actors also strike.

The studios and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have not held talks since the writers' strike began on May 2.

The SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists) and the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) on Friday said they would extend their current contract, which had been set to expire at midnight, through July 12.

The agreement gives the two sides more time to work out a deal and prevent a work stoppage that would have added to ongoing labor strife in Hollywood.

SAG-AFTRA's negotiators had said they had unanimously agreed to the contract extension “in order to exhaust every opportunity to achieve the righteous contract we all demand and deserve”.

“No one should mistake this extension for weakness,” they said.

SAG-AFTRA voted in early June to give its leaders the authority to call a work stoppage if talks were to break down.

The rise of streaming has eroded television ad revenue as traditional TV audiences shrink.

Leaders of SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 actors, and the WGA say the entertainment industry has changed dramatically with the rise of streaming television and the emergence of technology such as generative AI, which they fear could be used to write scripts or create digital actors.

(With inputs from Reuters)