SAG-AFTRA’s National Board officially called a strike Thursday against major film and television companies as contract talks with studios and streamers broke down without deal on July 12.

The work stoppage will impact 160,000 union members and begin at midnight tonight. The union’s national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said that the talks left the union “with no choice” but to call a strike, while union president Fran Drescher said that the studios “plead poverty” and said that the producers “stand on the wrong side of history.”

Drescher added of the studios offer, “There was nothing there, it was insulting.”

It will be SAG-AFTRA’s first strike against film and television companies in four decades. When actors went on a 95-day strike in July 1980, they pushed for a system of profit-sharing to get a percentage of revenue from home media releases. SAG wanted to get ahead of what it believed would be lucrative market (SAG merged with AFTRA in 2012).

The last of the major entertainment unions to enter labor negotiations with entertainment companies in the spring and summer of this year, SAG-AFTRA walked into their talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on June 7 with a strike authorization vote in hand. Responding to an especially tight timeframe in which to negotiate their sprawling TV/theatrical contracts (their current pact initially expired June 30, then was subsequently extended to July 12), 98 percent of voting members of the union authorized their leaders to call a strike if deemed necessary.

During their own negotiations with the AMPTP, the industry’s writers never made a deal, resulting in a strike, while the Directors Guild of America did reach an agreement that was ratified by its membership.

In June, top SAG-AFTRA negotiators told members they were making progress during discussions with the entertainment companies. O June 30, both management and labor decided to extend negotiations 8 more business days, to 11:59 p.m. on July 12.

“We will not be distracted from negotiating in good faith to secure a fair and just deal by the expiration of our agreement,” the union said in a strongly-worded statement. A federal mediator joined negotiations for just one business day on Wednesday.

By Wednesday night, the two sides had failed to reach a deal, leading SAG-AFTRA’s committee to unanimously recommend a strike to its National Board.

Union president Fran Drescher accused the AMPTP of refusing to “meaningfully engage” on some topics and stonewalling on others, while the AMPTP said the failure to compromise was “the Union’s choice, not ours.” The AMPTP claimed that SAG-AFTRA left “our offer of historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses, and more” on the table.

SAG-AFTRA signaled that it was looking to put contractual guardrails in place regarding the use of artificial intelligence in entertainment and improve streaming residuals. The union also argued that it was important to bolster its benefits plans and changes rules regarding self-taped auditions, which skyrocketed in popularity at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When writers struck 15 years ago, the fallout of the 100-day labor stoppage was roughly $2 billion (or $2.8 billion in 2023 dollars).

Experts who spoke after the WGA’s May 1 call predicted the financial toll from this latest strike may be even greater.

That figure will undoubtedly grow now that productions will be further stalled by work stoppage from the actors.