SAG-AFTRA approves 39 movies to shoot during strike action
The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has granted approval for 39 independent productions to shoot during their well-publicised strikes.
Allowing such projects to proceed due to the fact that they are not tied to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), movies from the likes of A24 will begin production in spite of the strikes. Such movies include two new A24 projects, Death of a Unicorn, starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, and Mother Mary featuring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel.
Other projects include The Rivals of Amziah King from Black Bear Pictures, Dust Bunny from Entertainment One and Thunder Road, and the forthcoming movie Flight Risk, made by Davis Entertainment.
SAG-AFTRA announced on Tuesday that it had approved agreement ‘waivers’ for these five projects, and 34 others, to complete production.
Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, recently called the strike action “disturbing”. “It’s very disturbing to me,” the multi-millionaire stated, “We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID, which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption”.
In response, the American actress and president of SAG-AFTRA, Fran Drescher, called out Iger for his comments. “I found them terribly repugnant and out of touch,” she said of Iger’s statement, “Positively tone deaf…I don’t think it served him well. If I were that company, I would lock him behind doors and never let him talk to anybody about this”.
Take a look at a speech from Drescher at a SAG-AFTRA press conference below.
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