As we near the 100-day mark of the actors’ strike, Sarah Paulson, Rosario Dawson, Jessica Lange, Zachary Quinto, Josh Charles, and Ethan Hawke grabbed their picket signs and joined chants for a fair contract Thursday morning in New York City.
Hawke says he expected the strike to end last week, while snacking on a coffee-drenched donut. He checked the news every morning in anticipation of a finalized agreement and was ultimately left disappointed.
“The longer it goes on the more angry and frustrated with corporate entities I become,” Hawke says. “The reason to strike is getting more clear.”
For months, actors have marched across the country for wage increases adjusted for inflation, AI protections, a cut of Hollywood studios’ revenue, and more. On Oct. 2, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) met with Hollywood executives for the first time since the strike began on July 14. After five days of face-to-face bargaining spread out over 8 days of negotiations, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, representing Hollywood streamers and studios, walked away from the table.
Josh Charles, Rebecca Damon, Michael Emerson, Carrie Preston, and Ethan Hawke at the SAG-AFTRA picket line outside the HBO building on October 17, 2023, in New York City.
Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
As a member of both the actors’ and writers’ unions, Hawke celebrated with the Writers Guild of America last month when the union reached a tentative deal, and again when writers ratified a new contract Oct. 9 that improved wage increases for streaming services, minimum staffing levels, and AI protections. Back on the line with the actors, he called the greed of Hollywood executives overwhelming.
“They control the keys to the kingdom as far as getting things seen right now, but if they don’t want to play ball, we’ll find other ways to make art,” Hawke says.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, and NBCUniversal chief content officer Donna Langley were all present during last week’s bargaining meetings. On Oct. 11, SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee members presented a subscriber-based proposal that would cost companies 57 cents per subscriber each year. To Sarandos, the 57 cents per subscriber, or a “levy” as he called it, was “a bridge too far” and pushed them to suspend negotiations.
Michael Emerson (Lost), who’s frequented the picket lines with his wife Carrie Preston (True Blood), called the 57-cent proposal a painless one. It shocks Hollywood bigwigs when actors ask for fair compensation, he adds.
“That’s their answer to everything: it’s too much, it’s too much. As if to say, ‘What did you do to get a piece of our pie?’ Who makes the damn thing? Whose faces are on the screen? Who learns the lines? I mean, it seems so obvious to me,” Emerson says.
That’s their answer to everything: it’s too much, it’s too much. As if to say, ‘What did you do to get a piece of our pie?’ Who makes the damn thing? Whose faces are on the screen? Who learns the lines?
Ezra Knight, SAG-AFTRA New York local president, was also present on the picket line Thursday alongside other SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee members. When reflecting on the negotiations with Hollywood CEOs last week, Knight shares that it’s a two-way street and says he hasn’t heard word that the AMPTP will return to the table anytime soon.
“You couldn’t help but have a feeling of momentum and expectation as the WGA got their deal for their reasons and their terms,” Knight tells Rolling Stone. “We want our deal with our reasons and our terms, but it felt like we were going to reach that space in a more rapid sense. So, it was a bit of a disappointment.”
Hawke says the nearly 100-day strike is proof that actors can work without Hollywood studios and streamers. He recently directed Wildcat, which follows the life of writer Flannery O’Connor (played by his daughter Maya Hawke), under the SAG-AFTRA interim agreement. Hundreds of productions have received interim agreements, which permit independently produced and financed productions, unaffiliated with the AMPTP, to resume production. The work stoppage has increased support for independent cinema, reasons Hawke, who is looking optimistically toward the future.
“It would be great if the Oscars were full of 10 independent movies,” he says.