Earlier this week, SAG-AFTRA issued guidelines on Halloween costumes for guild members to stay compliant with the ongoing strike. These guidelines basically barred members dressing as anything from struck work, making it so most live-action movie characters were off-limits. The graphic they issued offered generic costume idea suggestions like “ghost, zombie, or spider.” Or going out trick or treating as animated TV show characters, since animation is a separate contract and not currently struck.
The internet swiftly reacted by mocking these restrictions on what people could or couldn’t do on their own time. Hollywood rascal Ryan Reynolds (“Deadpool”) tweeted “I look forward to screaming ‘scab’ at my 8 year old all night. She’s not in the union but she needs to learn.” In response to Variety’s reporting on the guidelines.
Whereas the much more surprising Mandy Moore (“This is Us”) expressed her grievance via Instagram. “Is this a joke? Come on @sagaftra. This is what’s important? We’re asking you to negotiate in good faith on our behalf. So many folks across every aspect of this industry have been sacrificing mightily for months. Get back to the table and get a fair deal so everyone can get back to work.”
The backlash was enough for SAG-AFTRA to issue some clarification on Friday night that the rules were not intended for children.
“SAG-AFTRA issued Halloween guidance in response to questions from content creators and members about how to support the strike during this festive season,” SAG-AFTRA wrote. “This was meant to help them avoid promoting struck work, and it is the latest in a series of guidelines we have issued. It does not apply to anyone’s kids. We are on strike for important reasons, and have been for nearly 100 days. Our number one priority remains getting the studios back to the negotiating table so we can get a fair deal for our members, and finally put our industry back to work.”
And the organization does make a valid point. Many creators that do entertainment industry-centric content on YouTube and TikTok have been concerned about inadvertently promoting struck work. With many just leaving their respective platforms until the strike is resolved. It just seems like it could have been a bit more clear who these guidelines were made for.
The original graphic ending with; “Let’s use our collective power to send a loud and clear message to our struck employers that we will not promote their content without a fair contract.” Seems a bit more overreaching than intended.
