SAG-AFTRA will head into another round of labor negotiations with the major Hollywood studios in around two weeks, led by newly elected leader Sean Astin.
“My mission going into this negotiation is to make sure that the companies spend as much time as necessary to fully hear the issues that each of our groups represent,” he recently told Deadline in a sit-down ahead of next month’s formal start to negotiations.
The Lord of the Rings actor and son of a former union president has spent the last six years engrained in the politics of the actors union. Before getting the top guild gig, Astin previously served on the SAG-AFTRA board and helping shepherd the 160,000-person membership through a historically long strike that resulted from an extremely contentious round of contract talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in 2023.
Now, having been elected to succeed former SAG-AFTRA leader Fran Drescher in September, he takes on the tall order (along with National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and the guild’s negotiating committee) of finding a path toward a new TV/Theatrical Contract during an increasingly tumultuous moment in the U.S. film and television industry. Astin ran on a campaign that promised to continue addressing several of the same issues that were the talk of the town three years ago, like AI protections and streaming residuals, while also vowing to turn his attention to health and pension plan reform, workplace safety and other concerns from members who he feels often get left behind in negotiations.
Astin sets the stage for 2026 talks in the interview below, where he discusses some of those priorities and makes clear his expectations for the AMPTP, led by new president and former SAG National Director Greg Hessinger.
For transparency, Deadline has also requested on-the-record interviews with DGA, WGA and AMPTP leadership ahead of negotiations. The current DGA and SAG-AFTRA contracts end on June 30, while the WGA’s ends on May 1.
DEADLINE: Obviously you’ve been involved in SAG-AFTRA leadership for years and were familiar with negotiations in 2023, but since taking office, have you spoken with Fran or any of your other predecessors on how to approach this term?
SEAN ASTIN: Fran gave me some really good guidance early on that I’ve taken to heart. I just texted her the other day, not specific to your question, but she was included with the ensemble category [for Marty Supreme‘s nomination at the Actor Awards], and so she’s nominated for an Actor Award. So, very proud of her and happy for her with that. You know, I’ve talked to several of my predecessors about a whole host of subjects. I don’t know that we’ve gone into bargaining stuff, in particular, but we’ve all been around long enough to have a sense of how to approach it.
DEADLINE: I’m sure there are many issues you’d like to tackle during your tenure. If you had to narrow it down, what do you view as one of the single biggest issues that you want to address?
ASTIN: Well, this is why I wanted to talk to you, because this is the question that journalists and members are asking. And the answer is, we represent a huge constituency. We represent a number of categorical groups. So the idea of picking any one thing or any three things, I think, might start to shape a narrative that is totally out of sync with what our needs are. One thing I think about is the fact that we’re doing a lot of heavy lifting that the companies are benefiting from, just in terms of corralling the kinds of folks who work with them and assembling their needs.
So, one thing that happens, which isn’t proper, is that we talk about a couple of big issues, and then they sort of say, ‘Well, we’ve dealt with the big issues,’ and then a lot of these other individuals and their groups don’t get the attention they deserve. I mean, we represent background actors. Their income collectively represents a very important amount of the income that goes to bolstering our pension and health plans. We represent stunt performers. We represent singers and dancers. We represent puppeteers. Their issues are just as important to me as every other issue, because that’s their life and their pensions and their safety and their health and their existence, basically. My mission going into this negotiation is to make sure that the companies spend as much time as necessary to fully hear the issues that each of our groups represent.
DEADLINE: Well, you mentioned health and pension, and of course, I think that is emerging as at least one of the points to address in this upcoming bargaining cycle. Can you tell me a bit about how you might seek to approach that topic, and if you’d be willing to agree to longer contracts to solve that issue?
ASTIN: You know, Duncan was asked this question, and I know that Deadline quoted a source…
DEADLINE: We did. That was my colleague’s story.
ASTIN: Well, that there…it’s very problematic for that type of unattributed thinking to come into the conversation. It’s just inappropriate. So, we’ll see what proposals we want to bring to them and what proposals they want to bring to us. But that concept is just, it’s an out of left field concept.
DEADLINE: Is there anything about the negotiating process that you’d seek to handle differently than SAG-AFTRA has in the past?
ASTIN: Well, the context is really different. The time that we’re in is different. The industry has undergone very foundational changes. It’s in the middle of some very substantial — what is the good word that I should use? I don’t want to characterize things in a way that is overly dramatic. Turmoil, dramatic…These words are not helpful. But, there are foundational, substantive things that affect the working lives of everyone in this industry undergoing [change], and we all know it because you cover it every day, and we see it every day, too. From my vantage point, the public statements from the companies have been very constructive, very positive sounding. I think we’ll go into this negotiation from our side with a very respectful, responsible, even tone.
We have a lot that we need addressed. They know that we have a lot that needs addressing. We’ll see how it goes, but there’s not going to be any acrimony or posturing language. In the last cycle, there was — let me say it this way. It’s my hope…that the negotiating that happens will be done between the parties. We won’t be negotiating through the press. I want to be, and I want our organization to continue to be, the straight shooter that we are. We’re going to come in, explain what our needs are, and I expect them to explain their position clearly. Hopefully we’ll be able to just conduct the negotiation consistent with the needs of the industry.
DEADLINE: How do you view the current conversation around streaming consolidation? How does that fit into your approach this cycle, as we’re also waiting and watching to see if there will be more major corporate consolidation within the industry?
ASTIN: It should be no surprise to anyone that the residual formulas that are in place now don’t work. So we are going to have to work closely with the companies to make sure that the entire streaming architecture respects the value that our members bring to the process and are consistent with what their models will allow, and we’ve been studying their businesses very closely. The AMPTP has a very difficult job to do when it represents a vast array of members who have totally different businesses. So we understand that, but we also know that when a company like Netflix announces its 300 — you can find the accurate number — million subscribers that they’re charging X dollars a month…We can count [revenue estimates].
[Editor’s note: Netflix had 301.6M subs as of Q4 2024, which is the last time the streamer reported global subscriber numbers.]
The concept of residuals is reported strangely. The reporting on what residuals are seems to miss that our members are investing their time, energy, skill and talent into a project, and when the project is exhibited, we expect that investment to be realized. Shareholders put their money in. Everybody puts in their sweat equity. But I think that sometimes people look at performers with residuals and wonder, ‘What’s the point?’ And that’s the point. We work very hard over an extended period of time just to get those jobs. That work, that time, and then the actual work we do, needs to be reflected in the full picture of how they exploit the contractual term of these projects [and] how they make their money.
DEADLINE: So, on the other side of these negotiations, what will it take for you to consider it a success?
ASTIN: If the companies demonstrate an appreciation for the full complement of the work of all of our members who are represented in this contract, I’ll consider that a success.
English (US) ·