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Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep are set to join the Hollywood writers’ strike.
For the first time in over 60 years, writers and actors are picketing on the same line following the Screen Actors Guild announcing a joint strike.
Yesterday, the national board decided on Thursday morning (July 13) that SAG-AFTRA, led by Fran Drescher, the star of the 90s sitcom The Nanny, would join the strike to advocate for better residuals and rights against the looming threat of AI.
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It comes after a deadline to reach a deal with studios and streaming services passed on Wednesday (July 12).
Many celebrities have joined the strike, with Lawrence and Streep being the latest to support their colleagues.
According to The Evening Standard, these two actors urged the union not to settle for a mediocre deal in an open letter penned last year.
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Among Lawrence and Streep, there were over 300 names of celebrities who had stated they were prepared to ‘strike’ if a fair agreement wasn't reached.
As part of the strike, it would prevent actors from working on sets or publicially promoting any upcoming projects.
"The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI," SAG-AFTRA president Drescher told a press conference in Los Angeles, as per ABC News.
When people ask me what a unionist is, I point to Fran Drescher. Not only is she an iconic actor and household name, she is also the President of the SAG-AFTRA union. Listen to her passionate speech as her members go on strike demanding better pay and conditions. Solidarity…
"This is a moment of history, it is a moment of truth.
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"If we don't stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble."
She added that pay and residuals over the past decade had been
severely eroded by the rise of the streaming ecosystem'.
Disney chief Bob Iger has responded to news of SAG and its 160,000 members joining the strike, expressing that it would have a ‘very damaging effect on the whole industry’.
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"This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption," he said on CNBC.
"There's a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic."
Topics: News, Film and TV, Jennifer Lawrence, Celebrity