SAG-AFTRA is reiterating that it is giving the green light to actors to promote their projects with interim agreements at major fall film festivals.
The union said in a statement on Thursday that it is encouraging members to do publicity for projects that have been granted these pacts, which require these titles to agree to conditions that SAG-AFTRA is seeking in ongoing negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, at the Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival.
“We are proud of our members who demonstrate the various ways to bolster the strike effort,” national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a statement. “Whether it’s walking a picket line, working on approved Interim Agreement productions, or maintaining employment on one of our other permissible, non-struck contracts, our members’ support for their union is empowering and inspiring.”
Since the performers’ union began granting them weeks into the strike, interim agreements have been a controversial tactic. The union has maintained that the pacts prove that SAG-AFTRA’s aim in its current negotiations with the AMPTP are reasonable and realizable, and that these agreements keep actors and crew members working and help stem the tide of runaway production to other countries. Critics, meanwhile, have suggested that allowing certain productions to continue with various stars undercuts the impact of the strike, especially if interim agreement projects are eventually bought and distributed by AMPTP member companies.
More to come.
