Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos shed some light on why negotiations between striking actors union SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood’s biggest producers fell apart.
After a blistering statement from the guild in the wee hours on Thursday morning accused the studios and streamers of “bully tactics,” Sarandos hit the main stage of Bloomberg’s Screentime conference and ran headfirst into questions about the breakdown.
Sarandos said that Wednesday evening talks ended with the guild proposing a “levy” on on each of Netflix’s roughly 238 million subscribers.
“We had very productive talks going, then what kind of happened last night – they introduced this levy on subscribers, on top of … historic highs in terms of increases across the board,” Sarandos said at the Los Angeles event. The executive pointed out that while the offer from producers mirrors one reached in September with the Writers Guild of America, it will cost “four-to-five times more” to implement a similar contract with SAG-AFTRA’s larger membership.
Sarandos also said the subscriber levy came after the studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, received a similar proposal to share revenue with the actors.
More to come …
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