Ordinarily, the banding together of George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro would be a producers' dream. But the A-list foursome's latest group project may not be exactly what Hollywood had in mind.
The influential thesps—Oscar winners all—have teamed up to urge the Screen Actors Guild to begin early contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to avoid another Industry-debilitating work stoppage. The actors' union's contract with producers is set to expire June 30.
In full-page advertisements in the Industry trade papers Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, the superstar four addressed their 120,000 or so peers in the guild.
"As proud members of SAG, we have seen the effect of a long-running strike on our community," the ad reads. "Now that the writers have agreed to a deal, our hope is to get people back to work."
The ad, which ends with the stars' names, continues: "Issues are important...Nothing can be solved until both parties agree to sit down together...There is too much at stake to wait."
The actors' call to fast-track the often excruciating negotiation process comes in the wake of the 100-day strike by the Writers Guild of America, which SAG wholeheartedly supported. While the scribes formally settled this week, several major studios have put feature development on hold until a new contract is worked out with SAG. Filmmakers are wary about ramping up production on projects only to have another labor dispute force a shutdown.
On Wednesday, SAG executive director Doug Allen spoke out on the state of the thus far nonexistent negotiations with the AMPTP. "Our ongoing member outreach has included, and will continue to include, conversations with high-profile television and movie actors," and the guild "will bargain with management at a time that will most benefit our members."
That time, apparently, is March, when leaders from both SAG and fellow performing guild AFTRA, the 70,000-strong American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, have indicated they would jointly begin negotiations. More than half of AFTRA's members also belong to SAG.
Meanwhile, another contingent of actors is coming together to lobby for new restrictions on just who among their ranks should be able to vote on whether contract terms, once offered, are deemed acceptable. As it is, all card-carrying members are eligible to vote, but a new group claims that only those who earn their living by acting—roughly one-third of the guild's members—should be able to decide whether or not to strike.
Some 900 actors, including Ben Affleck, Sally Field and Diane Lane, have signed a letter circulated around the SAG community asking the guild to consider the qualified voting. Per the Los Angeles Times, the guild has agreed to meet with actor Ned Vaughn, who has appeared on 24 and Cane and who circulated the letter, as well as a handful of those actors who support the measure, sometime next week.