Their offer, confirmed by Clooney’s spokesperson on Thursday, would provide the union an extra $150 million over three years and could help fund improved health benefits.
Clooney also said top stars would only collect residuals once lower-paid actors received theirs.
“A lot of the top earners want to be part of the solution,” Clooney told Hollywood publication Deadline, which first reported the news. “We think it’s fair for us to pay more into the union.”
A SAG-AFTRA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s easy to be cynical and 150M towards health benefits seems like a good and altruistic offer but shouldn’t the studio be paying health benefits. Is this just a golden strike buster so top Hollywood actors can get back to earning millions while the rest return to crappy conditions.
Imo Clooney et al. are hoping to get all the actors back to work because strike pay isn’t cutting it. Bribing AFTRA isn’t a bad thing at this point as there’s already stories of actors loosing housing, etc.
$150M added to the strike fund would go a long way to fixing that issue.
The studio should be, but that would have to be in the bargaining agreement.
I don’t know of any company that pays for regular health benefits for gig work. I’ve had contract work at a long term site (government contracts) pay for healthcare but never heard it for entertainment.