Union reports no progress on efforts to end actors' strike

The actors' union is awaiting a response Friday from the studios on their comprehensive counter-proposal and counter-proposal on artificial intelligence.

"Our team looks forward to continuing bargaining with the companies tomorrow," the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said in a statement released Thursday night.

The union described its TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee as being on "standby" Thursday awaiting a response from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios.

The union is seeking to place limitations on the use of AI to re-create actors' likenesses and performances, while the AMPTP has advocated for informed consent and fair pay in situations where performers are digitally replicated, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The studios have warned that unless a deal is reached this week to end the strike which has reached 113 days, the longest in history, it will be impossible for the broadcasters to salvage half a season of scripted television, according to the entertainment trade newspaper Variety.

The 2024 summer movie season is also increasingly in peril, as more and more films have been delayed to 2025, Variety reported.

The union's other demands include general wage increases, boosts in compensation for successful streaming programs and improvements in health and retirement benefits.