Like the striking writers, leaders of SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, have described their labor dispute in stark terms, calling the present moment “existential” for their members.
And like the writers, they have argued that this has rapidly approached a crisis because of how streaming entertainment has exploded over the last decade.
“We’re looking to make sure that acting can be a sustainable career choice for people, not just the 100 most famous celebrities in the world, but for the whole large population of our membership,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the lead negotiator for the union, said in a recent interview. “They should be able to make a living and you know, pay a mortgage or pay rent like everybody else.”
The actors have raised a number of grievances, including the regulations on self-taped auditions, a pandemic phenomenon that has resulted in fewer live casting…
