SAG-AFTRA wants members to know that come Halloween, their children won’t shouted at and called scabs if they decide to dress as their favorite movie and TV characters.
That clarification comes a day after the guild released guidelines for a “SAG-AFTRA strike-friendly” Halloween that ended up provoking fairly widespread bad reviews from members.
“SAG-AFTRA issued Halloween guidance in response to questions from content creators and members about how to support the strike during this festive season. This was meant to help them avoid promoting struck work, and it is the latest in a series of guidelines we have issued,” the guild said Friday night in a follow up statement provided to TheWrap.
“It does not apply to anyone’s kids. We are on strike for important reasons, and have been for nearly 100 days. Our number one priority remains getting the studios back to the negotiating table so we can get a fair deal for our members, and finally put our industry back to work,” the statement concluded.
The guidelines, posted to SAG-AFTRA’s website Thursday night, advised that members:
“Don’t post photos of costumes inspired by struck content to social media.”
“Choose costumes inspired by generalized characters and figures (ghost, zombie, spider, etc.)”
“Dress up as characters from non-struck content, like an animated TV show.”
While these guidelines are largely similar to rules the guild issued in July for how members should dress at fan conventions, they didn’t include guidance on their scope. And as Halloween is a popular children’s holiday, the reactions ranged from frustrated dismissal to open mockery.
On the frustration side, former SAG-AFTRA president Melissa Gilbert berated the guild in a post on Instagram. “THIS is what you guys come up with? Literally no one cares what anyone wears for Halloween,” she said in an Instagram post on Thursday that tagged current President Fran Drescher.
Calling it an “infantile” policy, Gilbert opined that it makes SAG-AFTRA “look like a joke” and urged the guild to “go negotiate.”
“This is the kind of silly bulls–t that keeps us on strike,” she added.
It should of course be noted that SAG-AFTRA didn’t walk away from contract negotiations. Talks ended because the studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, abruptly canceled them over objections to the guild’s revenue sharing proposal. So far AMPTP has refused to return to the bargaining table.
Meanwhile, on the mockery side of things, “Deadpool” star Ryan Reynolds had a much funnier reaction.
“I look forward to screaming ‘scab’ at my 8 year old all night,” Reynolds joked on the social media platform still hosted on the twitter.com web domain. “She’s not in the union but she needs to learn.”
