It has been just 26 months since some of the most grueling strikes in Hollywood history came to an end.
Now comes the possibility that it will happen all over again.
The contracts that ended the strikes in 2023 are nearing their expiration dates — May 1 for writers and June 30 for actors. On Monday, negotiations will begin with the studios for new deals.
The sides will be negotiating in a Hollywood far different from 2023. Production has slowed significantly industrywide, as many entertainment companies struggle to adjust to the streaming world. Work has dried up for many actors, writers and directors. At the same time, the rise of generative artificial intelligence has become more central.
The negotiations on Monday will be between SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents thousands of actors; and the leaders of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the studios’ bargaining organization. Numerous bargaining sessions are expected in the coming weeks.
“We’re doing everything under our power to keep our members working,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the chief negotiator of the actors’ union, said in an interview. “That’s what they want — that’s what the whole industry wants. Having said that, we are not going to accept a deal that’s unfair to our membership.”
In a statement, the studio alliance said it was “optimistic that, together, we can reach a fair deal that reflects our shared commitment to supporting our industry’s talented performers and promoting long-term stability.”
In March, the Writers Guild of America will begin its discussions with the studios, and the directors’ union — which did not strike last time — will get in the bargaining room later in the spring.
The dual strikes by the writers’ and actors’ unions in 2023 were a first in Hollywood since the early 1960s. The industry’s production lines ground to a halt for many months, and the economic fallout was significant.
Compensation and general working conditions were among the major issues last time. Artificial intelligence was also an issue, and it will come up again this time: Mr. Crabtree-Ireland said the union would push for additional guardrails around its use.
Sean Astin, the “Rudy” and “Lord of the Rings” actor, who replaced Fran Drescher as the president of SAG-AFTRA last year, said streaming residuals, a type of royalty, would be an additional matter on the bargaining table, as would other “meat and potatoes” issues.
“Our members’ lived experience is no longer properly reflected in the contract, and so those things have to be brought into alignment,” Mr. Astin said.
The writers’ union has not yet detailed its top priorities, but replenishing the writers’ health care reserves is expected to be one of them. Marguerite MacIntyre, a board member of the Writers Guild of America, said last year that “the question of how to continue to fund our health care” would be a major element of the labor talks. Michele Mulroney, the president of the Writers Guild’s western branch, said last year that health care would be “a headline issue.”
The studios are expected to have an ask of their own: five-year contracts, two more years than has been typical. The studios are expected to point to the stability of other industries with longer labor contracts, including the National Football League (10-year deals) and the longshoremen’s union and their employers (six years), according to two people with knowledge of the plans.
Union leaders have said in the past that three-year contracts provide vital flexibility to respond to technological changes. Christopher Nolan, the heavyweight Hollywood director and new president of the Directors Guild of America, told the trade publication Deadline last week, “I don’t think a five-year extension is in any way a realistic proposal.”
The studio alliance will also be led by a new head negotiator, Greg Hessinger. Mr. Crabtree-Ireland, the SAG-AFTRA negotiator, said that he knew Mr. Hessinger when he worked with the actors’ union decades ago, and that he would bring “a likely vibe shift.”
“I’m cautiously optimistic that this is a positive step in the relationship between the companies and the unions in the entertainment industry,” he said.
John Koblin covers the television industry for The Times.
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