SAG-AFTRA agreed to a 'last-minute request' from Hollywood studios for federal mediation, but it doesn't mean the two sides will make a deal before Wednesday night's negotiating deadline.
Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel told KNX News, "This is almost certainly going to lead to a strike."
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Handel recalled that federal mediators were pulled into negotiations twice during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of the early 2000s and said, "Mediators were ineffective in both cases."
SAG-AFTRA, a house typically divided, has unified under an effort to take on the studios - a feat in itself that is, "really quite extraordinary" Handel said.
If the actors join the writers on the picket line, it will add "A lot of heft and a lot of wind in the sails to the labor actions," Handel said.
Handel believes that with two unions out on strike, it is possible that the studios and streamers might take a look in the mirror and decide to come to the table with a better offer, but it is more likely that a strike will last into the fall.
Though SAG-AFTRA did agree to the request by the Alliance of Motion
Picture and Television Producers for federal mediation, it refused to
extend its existing labor contract past the latest negotiating deadline on Wednesday at 11:59 PM.
The union said in a statement, "We will not be distracted from negotiating in good faith to secure a fair and just deal by the expiration of our agreement.'' "We are committed to the negotiating process and will explore and exhaust every possible opportunity to make a deal, however we are not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement.''
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