Thousands of striking actors, including a number of Hollywood stars, have signed an open letter reaffirming their commitment to the cause as negotiations continue and the walkout stretches into its 106th day.
Among the signatories of the letter published Thursday night were Daniel Dae Kim, Camila Cabello, Daveed Diggs, Debra Messing, Gina Rodriguez, Jon Hamm, Lena Dunham, LeVar Burton, Mark Ruffalo, Sarah Paulson and Pedro Pascal.
“Back in June, before we went on strike, a large group of members signed an open letter telling our leaders that we would rather go on strike than take a bad deal,” the letter reads.
“Now, more than 100 days into our strike, that is still true. As hard as this is, we would rather stay on strike than take a bad deal. We have not come all this way to cave now.”
Reflecting internal tensions at the 160,000-member performers’ union, the missive proceeded to call out “a minority who are not willing to make temporary sacrifices for the greater good,” while declaring that many members of the guild — including the more than 3,600 who signed the letter — “are still standing in solidarity, ready to strike as long as it takes.”
“We have not gone without work, without pay, and walked picket lines for months just to give up on everything we’ve been fighting for.,” it reads. “We cannot and will not accept a contract that fails to address the vital and existential problems that we all need fixed.”
Representatives for SAG-AFTRA, and the alliance representing the major studios did not immediately respond Friday to requests for comment.
Others who attached their names to the letter include Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Carrie Coon, Cynthia Nixon, Jamie Chung, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Maya Hawke, Wilson Cruz, John Leguizamo and Patti LuPone.
Around the same time the letter was released, SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee announced that it had delivered a counteroffer to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Thursday after a long day of bargaining. The guild said it is scheduled to meet with the alliance again on Friday.
Talks resumed Tuesday after the previous round soured over streaming pay. The entertainment companies walked away from the table after the guild proposed an annual payment of about 57 cents for every streaming subscriber worldwide.
Studio heads argued that such a model would be unreasonable and cost the companies too much money, while guild leaders accused the AMPTP of bargaining in bad faith.
Though the AMPTP returned to the table Tuesday with a new offer it said was generous, the sides remained divided by the end of the session, according to sources familiar with the matter. The guild took a break on Wednesday to review the studios’ latest proposal before presenting its counteroffer to the AMPTP on Thursday.
