Reprinted from Deadline Hollywood by David Robb on September 15, 2020.
SAG-AFTRA has told Hollywood’s talent agents that return-to-work talks with management’s AMPTP have stalled because the companies are refusing to spring for COVID-19 quarantine pay for series regulars and other film and TV performers.
The union held what was billed as an “emergency” Zoom meeting with agents Saturday to discuss the issue. The invitation to the meeting, obtained by Deadline, said that “The union is asking agents to please invite and share this Zoom link for this emergency meeting with all affected clients in both television and film, and is also inviting agents to attend this meeting.”
The topic of discussion, according to the invite, was “the refusal of the AMPTP companies to agree to quarantine pay for series regular performers (and some Schedule F performers as well) as part of Industry-Wide Safety Protocol negotiations that are presently being conducted.” Schedule F performers include over-scale actors working on certain weekly contracts for motion pictures and miniseries, and on a specified number of episodes on a given television series. …
