When on the red carpet of the Toronto International Film Festival to promote her film 'Memory', the Oscar-winning actress uses baseball terms to deliver a simple explanation of the agreements.
- Sep 16, 2023
AceShowbiz - Jessica Chastain has taken the time to explain how and why SAG-AFTRA interim agreements work amid the ongoing strike. The actress, who is also a producer, uses baseball terms to deliver a simple explanation of the agreements while on the red carpet of the Toronto International Film Festival.
"I'm going to explain it to you in baseball terms," the Oscar winner said in an interview with a reporter from Canadian outlet eTalk. "You got the Major Leagues [AMPTP]. You got Derek Jeter, all the guys, and they're like, 'We're not happy with their contracts, we're going to strike.' The Minor Leagues show up [independent productions] and say, 'Hey, guess what? We're going to give you the contract you want!' "
Those contract requirements, per Chastain's video, include wage increases, protection against the use of AI, boosts in residuals from streamers, and better healthcare and retirement benefits. She then continued, "So the players go, 'You know what? We're not going to work for the Major Leagues, we're going to go work for the Minor Leagues.' Who do you think the audience goes to see? And now all of a sudden, the Major Leagues don't have any power."
Chastain later posted the clip on her X (formerly Twitter) page and added in the caption, "Giving you a @sagaftra Interim Agreement play by play. Journeymen actors, crew members etc, are urged to work in and support SAGAFTRA's approved projects. As the AMPTP refuses to negotiate, they should be the only ones in our industry out of work. The sucess of Interim Agreements should inspire them to do the right thing. Hope the AMPTP gets back to the negotiating table soon, but until then, it's the Minor League's time to shine."
The "Zero Dark Thirty" star previously took to the same platform to encourage producers to sign interim agreements. "If a majority of independent producers, come forward and sign the Interim Agreement deal it will show the AMPTP how wrong they are when they say our contract terms are unrealistic or unreasonable," she wrote earlier this month. "These agreements also provide employment opportunities for our crew members who are really struggling during the strike. By doing this, we advance our strike agenda as we keep the pressure on the struck companies in a way that nothing else will."
Chastain was in Toronto and Venice to promote her latest film "Memory" after securing an interim agreement. The program allows independent productions with no direct ties to members of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to continue filming.
At the Venice Film Festival, she admitted she was "incredibly nervous" to attend the event amid the strikes despite earning an interim agreement to promote the indie film. "Some people on my team advised me against it," she said.
The 46-year-old added, "I'm very aware of how lucky I am. It's a wonderful profession what we get to do as actors. And we are quite often, because of that, made to feel like we have to be quiet in order to protect future working opportunities. And we are often told and reminded how grateful we should be. That is the environment that I think has allowed workplace abuse to go unchecked for many decades. And it's also the environment that has saddled members of my union with unfair contracts."
Chastain and "Memory" director Michel Franco have already shot another film, an indie film titled "Dreams", under an interim agreement and with a non-WGA script.
