What to know about the potential actors strike looming at midnight

If last-ditch mediation fails on Wednesday, the union representing many Hollywood actors will go on strike at midnight, joining the already-striking television and film writers union. 

SAG-AFTRA, the largest union for actors representing 160,000 people, including many of Los Angeles's biggest stars, has been in negotiations with movie studios on renewing the union’s contract for months without reaching an agreement.

Why strike?

The union is demanding higher compensation and mandates to limit the use of artificial intelligence in the industry. They say that the rise of streaming and economic inflation has lowered members’ wages.

Before streaming, much of a successful actor's income came from TV and movie royalties, payouts given when re-runs of a show or movie are shown. But those royalties have dramatically decreased as TV revenues fall due to the rise of streaming.

SAG-AFTRA wants to re-balance royalties to better compensate actors for their roles in streaming productions, as well as higher pay minimums.

Artificial intelligence also poses a risk to actors, the union says, as members fear their likenesses could be used without their consent. 

Additionally, the union is demanding increased support for pension and health funds as well as ending “self-taped auditions,” an increasingly common practice that used to be handled exclusively by studios.

How can they avoid a strike?

Union and studio leaders will meet with mediators on Wednesday to attempt a last-minute deal. The two sides are still far apart on streaming residuals and increasing pay minimums, according to Variety. 

In a statement Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA said the studios “abused our trust and damaged the respect we have for them in this process.” 

Ninety-eight percent of the union’s members authorized a strike if a deal can not be reached by midnight Wednesday.

What happens if actors do strike?

If they strike, the actors will join the 11,500-member strong Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike since May over similar demands. The two unions have not striked at the same time since 1960.

A strike would exacerbate the film and TV industry's near-standstill, with no actors to film new productions or writers to plan future ones. The union representing directors is considering a tentative deal which would avoid its own strike.

The last SAG-AFTRA strike was in 1980 and lasted more than three months.

In a letter last month, over 1,000 actors including stars Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Ben Stiller affirmed that they are prepared to strike.

“We feel that our wages, our craft, our creative freedom, and the power of our union have all been undermined in the last decade. We need to reverse those trajectories,” the letter reads. 

“This is not a moment to meet in the middle.”