Dispatches From The Picket Line: Actors In NYC Say Offer From A-Listers Was “Righteous And Generous”

This is day 99 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Actors in New York City nearing day 100 on strike said a polite no thank you Friday to an offer from top stars to fund their health care by lifting the cap on SAG-AFTRA dues — to the tune of more than $150 million over three years — and to rework residual payments to benefit rank-and-file union members.

“It seems like not a good idea,” actor Kathleen Chalfant told Deadline during Friday’s rainy picket outside Netflix offices near Manhattan’s Union Square, in response to a proposal Thursday by A-listers to let their dues rise and, relatedly, to reverse the normal order of residual payouts so that actors at the bottom of the call sheet are paid first. 

Union leaders have praised George Clooney and others for “their creativity and earnest desire to help solve the impasse.” But in a letter to members they also said the proposal “is in no way related to and would have no bearing on this present contract or even as a subject of collective bargaining.”

Picketers outside of Netflix Friday included Christopher Meloni, Clark Gregg, Jeff Hiller, Ethan Herschenfeld and John Carroll Lynch. Some, taking their cues from the union, said that they appreciate the effort by Clooney and others to help get contract talks restarted after negotiations fell apart last week, but they have concerns.

Gregg told Deadline that the Clooney group offer is “righteous and generous.” He added that he is unsure of “how it overlaps with the need to have transparency and the residuals we were promised would be made right when streaming became the norm.”

“I think it is a generous offer,” added actor and musician Vardaan Arora. “I would hate for that generosity to be perceived as dividing the union.”

Arora and others seconded a point in the SAG-AFTRA letter that the dues-based health insurance proposal would violate federal labor law. 

“You can’t do that,” actor Eddie K. Robinson told Deadline, noting that members’ health insurance “has to come from the employer, not from our collective organization.” 

SAG-AFTRA strike captain Sue Berch, in her customary closing remarks to picketers at Netflix and nearby Warner Bros. Discovery offices, called the A-listers’ proposal “lovely but illegal.” 

In their 99th day on strike, actors also told Deadline that they’re confident of an eventual deal even if they’ve had to reset expectations. Last week’s breakdown in talks dashed hopes for a quick settlement once the Writers Guild reached an agreement with the AMPTP after almost five months of picketing.

Abraham Sparrow said that he “absolutely” felt optimistic in September, but added, “I came into this not knowing where the end is. … Like some of the chants say, I’m just going to keep coming out until it’s over.”

Nick Sakai said that while the prolonged, overlapping writer and actor strikes created positive new bonds between the two unions, all parties know that the current standoff “can’t go on like this forever.”

“I’m staying positive,” Gregg said. “I believe that we will find a way to restore some form of partnership between ourselves and our employers, and all go back to work as we all want to.” 

Chalfant, for her part, was preparing to return to work — in theater. She will be appearing in a regionally touring production in Connecticut of The Year of Magical Thinking, a one-woman play based on the memoir by Joan Didion.

“I’m lucky,” Chalfant said of her on-hold film and television career, “because I’ve been doing this for a very long time and I have what the union fought for: I have a pension and I have health care and I have very generous residuals because most of the work I did was done under the old contract.”