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Oscar winners Meryl Streep<\/strong><\/a>, Jennifer Lawrence<\/strong><\/a> and over 400 other actors have addressed SAG-AFTRA leaders in an open letter \u2014 and are threatening to strike if a harder line is not drawn regarding contact deals.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is not a moment to meet in the middle, and it\u2019s not an exaggeration to say that the eyes of history are on all of us,\u201d the members wrote in the internal Tuesday, June 27, letter, per Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a>. \u201cWe ask that you push for all the change we need and protections we deserve and make history doing it. If you are not able to get all the way there, we ask that you use the power given to you by us, the membership, and join the WGA on the picket lines. For our union and its future, this is our moment. We hope that, on our behalf, you will meet that moment and not miss it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The actors declared that they are \u201cprepared to strike if it comes to that<\/a>\u201d and are \u201cconcerned by the idea that SAG-AFTA (<\/span>Screen Actors Guild \u2014 American Federation of Television and Radio Artists<\/span>)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>members may be ready to make sacrifices that leadership is not.\u201d The letter also requested that negotiators do not settle for anything less than a \u201ctransformative deal.\u201d<\/a> Among their concerns, the actors noted residuals, healthcare, pensions, self-tapes and that studios consider streaming growth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe feel that our wages, our craft, our creative freedom, and the power of our union have all been undermined in the last decade,\u201d the letter continued. \u201cWe need to reverse those trajectories. With inflation and continued growth in streaming, we need a seismic realignment of our minimum pay and new media residuals, our exclusivity carveouts, and other terms.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Members of SAG-AFTRA previously voted to authorize a strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers \u2014 which represents the major studios \u2014<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>if a new contract isn\u2019t reached by the time their current contract ends on June 30.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to Streep, 74, and Lawrence, 32, the signatories of Tuesday\u2019s letter include Constance Wu<\/a>, Natasha Lyonne<\/a>, Laura Linney<\/a>, Ben Stiller<\/a>, Glenn Close<\/a>, Julia Luis Dreyfus<\/a>, Elliot Page<\/a>, Amy Poehler<\/a>, Quinta Brunson<\/a>, Liam Neeson<\/a>, Emmy Rossum<\/a>, Amy Schumer<\/a>, Neil Patrick Harris<\/a><\/strong> and more, according to Rolling Stone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The letter comes just days after the president of the union, Fran Drescher<\/strong><\/a>, appeared in a video on Saturday, June 24, alongside Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the chief negotiator of the contract, and revealed that talks were \u00a0\u201cextremely productive\u201d and \u00a0\u201claser-focused on all of the crucial issues you told us are most important to you,\u201d seemingly insinuating that a deal was close despite both sides still not seeing eye to eye on various issues.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n SAG-AFTRA\u2019s demands come after the WGA \u2014 the Writers Guild of America \u2014 officially\u00a0<\/span>went on strike last month<\/a> after negotiations broke down between the WGA and AMPTP for a new contract. In their letter to members announcing the strike, the WGA emphasized that they negotiated for \u201cfair pay that reflects the value of our contribution to company success and includes protections to ensure that writing survives as a sustainable profession.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n They added: \u201cThe companies\u2019 behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce<\/a>, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing. From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a \u2018day rate\u2019 in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers, they have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The AMPTP, meanwhile, stated that they felt they offered \u201cgenerous\u201d compensation. \u201cNegotiations between the AMPTP and the WGA concluded without an agreement today,\u201d the AMPTP said in a statement at the time, per Variety<\/em><\/a>. \u201cThe AMPTP presented a comprehensive package proposal to the Guild last night which included generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals. The AMPTP also indicated to the WGA that it is prepared to improve that offer, but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the Guild continues to insist upon. The primary sticking points are \u2018mandatory staffing,\u2019 and \u2018duration of employment\u2019 \u2014 Guild proposals that would require a company to staff a show with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or not.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Since the strike went into effect, late-night shows like\u00a0<\/span>The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon<\/span><\/em>,\u00a0<\/span>The Late Show With Stephen Colbert<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Jimmy Kimmel Live<\/em>!<\/span>\u00a0Have all gone on hiatus and are currently airing repeats. Scripted TV shows, however, are filmed in advance, so fans haven\u2019t felt the immediate impact. However, various writer\u2019s rooms \u2014 including Yellowjackets<\/em><\/a> and Abbott Elementary<\/em><\/a> \u2014 have come to a halt along with certain TV shows like Netflix juggernaut Stranger Things<\/em><\/a> shutting down mid-production.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n