Actors take to the picket lines following SAG-AFTRA strike

Hollywood actors took to the picket lines Friday for the first full day of the SAG-AFTRA strike, demanding better pay and fairer working conditions for those in the entertainment industry.

Protests were seen in both Los Angeles and New York City, with a number of A-list faces taking to the lines. Jason Sudeikis, who recently received another Emmy nomination for his leading role in "Ted Lasso," was joined by Susan Sarandon in New York, while Josh Gad, Allison Janney, Rosario Dawson, and others picketed outside various studios in L.A.

The picketing began after SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 actors and industry professionals, voted to strike following the breakdown of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents major Hollywood studios. While the prospect of a new contract between the two sides seemed probable just a few weeks ago, SAG-AFRTA President Fran Drescher told The Hollywood Reporter, "As we tried to get more into the vortex of what our concerns are, that was when we started to get stonewalled."

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SAG-AFTRA is seeking a better pay scale for actors, writing in a statement that "compensation has been severely eroded by the rise of the streaming ecosystem." It is also seeking protection from artificial intelligence in film and television, calling the technology "an existential threat to creative professions, and all actors and performers deserve contract language that protects them from having their identity and talent exploited without consent and pay."

In response to the strike, AMPTP said that SAG-AFTRA "has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry."

This marks the second industry walkout this summer, as screenwriters from the Writers Guild of America have also been striking for similar protections since May. The dual strikes have effectively brought Hollywood to a complete standstill.