Not even Tom Cruise could prevent the SAG-AFTRA strike
It’s easier to climb the Burj Khalifa than to get a studio executive to budge on residuals
Aux News SAG-AFTRA
As we all know by now, Tom Cruise may be able to drive a motorcycle off a cliff and climb the Burj Khalifa, but he cannot convince a studio
executive to consider making less than $27 million a year.
With Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One and its very long title now in theaters, it’s finally time to reveal the tale of the impossible mission Tom Cruise could not accomplish: Stopping the SAG-AFTRA strike. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the man who saved Hollywood’s ass and loves his popcorn Zoomed into negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). However, he could not land the plane.
Cruise reportedly lobbied the AMPTP on several issues, urging the assortment of studio representatives to listen to the guild’s positions on A.I. guardrails and stunt performers. He also asked the guild to consider allowing performers to participate in promotional campaigns for upcoming projects, which Hollywood Reporter sources described as “uncomfortable.” According to Deadline, his interest in promotion had nothing to do with Mission: Impossible, as that film’s rollout ended ahead of the strike. Instead, he was concerned about the post-vaccine return-to-theaters initiative that he’s been instrumental in promoting and argued that actor promotion matters to box office results—which eagle-eyed readers might recall as being the point of the strike.
SAG-AFTRA is striking over a litany of issues, particularly on raising residuals on streaming content and A.I. usage. Though, during the strike’s announcement, SAG-AFTRA’s description of the AMPTP’s asks were nothing short of ghoulish. SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said studios were offering a single day’s pay in exchange for a digital scan of background actors’ likeness for indefinite use in future projects without further compensation or consent. The union’s president, Fran Drescher, described them as “greedy.”
“We are being victimized by a very greedy entity,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said upon the strike’s announcement. “I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us. I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things. How they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right, when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment.”
19 Comments
he… argued that actor promotion matters to box office results—which eagle-eyed readers might recall as being the point of the strike.I thought the point of the strike was to raise compensation for residuals on streaming and highlight how opaque studios are with viewership nu- hey, wait a minute, that’s the very next sentence.SAG-AFTRA is striking over a litany of issues, particularly on raising residuals on streaming content and A.I. usage.In all seriousness, I agree with SAG’s decision not to allow a loophole for promoting theatrical releases, but I get where Cruise is coming from, and I think it highlights what happens when an industry has control of production as well as distribution. I know movie theaters have mostly consolidated down to two major chains (owned by even larger corporations), a handful of smaller chains, and a smattering of independent theaters, but I would love it if there was a way for the writers and the actors to get together with the movie theaters and stick it to the AMPTP. Ideally there’d be a backlog of independent films that suddenly get wide releases because what the fuck else are movie theaters going to show.I know that’s not going to happen, but I like to dream.
“his interest in promotion had nothing to do with Mission: Impossible, as that film’s rollout ended ahead of the strike.”Lol no it didn’t, they were supposed to go to Japan this week and had to cancel
However, he could not land the plane.
Of course not, Cruise can’t do it alone, he needs his team/wingman. Where is Harrison Ford in all of this?
It might be better if Harrison Ford stayed away from the plane altogether.
You mean Anthony Edwards?
Or Miles Teller?
Look, I don’t care who wears the mustache, as long as somebody does!
“They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment.”They (greedy rich people) have been standing on that side for a very long time. It’s getting crowded over there.
Eat each other already, y’all.
They’re not about to eat each other while there are still so many of us tasty, tasty bits on this side.
All planes land eventually … one way or another.
Just a reminder that Tom Cruise made a 100 million just with Top Gun Maverick.
Top actors are in the same category as CEOs, they control and profit of of the industry even more.
I know that there is a ton of other factors, but top billed actors have had a huge increase in revenues in the last few years.
The fact that we make a comparison between CEOs salaries and the lowest paid employees but not the actors is quite hypocrite.
Anyways, the hollywood industry needs an overhaul. Streaming changed the business, but CEOs are not the only one who are going to have to share their wealth with the cast and crew.
Tom Cruise is a star and a producer. Are you suggesting every actor is making $100 million on every project?
Do you see anyone else who made $100 million from a movie taking SAG-AFTRA’s side on this strike? Because it sure as hell ain’t the executives. He’s jumping motorcycles off a cliff while execs collect multimillion dollar paychecks and spit in the face of striking actors and writers barely clearing $30K a year by calling them ‘unrealistic’. I know it’s cool to shit on Tom Cruise because Xenu or whatever the fuck, but at least the guy seems to have something resembling an actual job.Also, the word you’re looking for is ‘hypocritical’.https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/tom-cruise-lobbied-studios-sag-aftra-stunt-ai-1235538456/https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2023/07/17/writer-responds-disney-ceo-bob-iger-strike-alex-okeefe-the-bear-sot-amanpour-mwrmx-vpx.cnn
Tom Cruise made 100 million because audiences went to see him perform death-defying stunts on camera. Ted Sarandos made 50 billion for cracking down on password sharing.It’s not hypocritical. It’s a completely different conversation.
So what you’re saying is that stunt people should also be paid more?
Yes, absolutely. But to frame it as “CEOs are not the only one who are going to have to share their wealth” is absurd. The value Tom Cruise added to Top Gun: Maverick’s success didn’t cost workers money.
The strike isn’t about actors like Tom Cruise. For every member of SAG-AFTRA as wealthy and powerful as him, there are literally thousands of members who are working a temp job or driving an Uber to make ends meet between Law & Order guest spots. Just because Tom Cruise is doing well, it doesn’t mean that actors as a whole have no reason to complain about their treatment. And the highly paid stars who do speak up aren’t hypocrites because many of them paid their dues working for shit pay with side gigs for at least a few years, so they know what they’re talking about.On the business side of things, you can go pretty far down the corporate ladder from the CEO/executive level and find a lot of highly paid employees with good job security and benefits. They’re doing a lot better than the lower ranks of the creatives.
The comparison of where they’re at is pretty nuts:https://www.sagaftra.org/files/sa_documents/SAG-AFTRA_Negotiations_Status_7_13_23.pdf?fbclid=IwAR25xsdvU0c-SfNnKXQUjR-BYBQDbWEsYiSjbgG0lbPhQLzah1FYXJEaHvA
Of COURSE this douche only cares about the “I wanna promote my movie” aspect of the strike, not the “pay the ramp-creators who made my overly indulgent motorcycle ramp as safe as it was so I didn’t fucking die during any of my unnecessary stunts” part