Although the joint SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes have halted nearly every major production in Hollywood, more than 40 projects have been cleared to continue filming under an interim agreement aimed at independent films. But some actors have cried foul on that technicality—including Sarah Silverman, who publicly opposed this practice in a video shared to her Instagram on Thursday.
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“What the fuck? I got offered an indie movie, I fucking said no, and so did a bunch of my friends. And now some of my friends are saying yes,” Silverman said in her video. “I’m really pissed.”
While there are more than 300 member companies of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), production companies including A24, which won the best-picture Oscar last year, are not a part of the organization. A24 is still making films now despite the strike, as are other “truly independent” producers—reportedly featuring actors including Anne Hathaway, Matthew McConaughey, Paul Rudd, and Jenna Ortega.
Silverman said she didn’t know if she should be “mad at these movie stars making these indie movies that are obviously going to go to streaming” or angry with “SAG for making this interim deal for these indie movies” during the strike. “It’s scabbing. You’ve made that so clear that it’s scabbing,” she continued. “Now, all of a sudden movie stars can make movies if they’re indie movies that where they promise they’ll only sell it if X, Y, and Z? That’s called the end of the strike, motherfuckers!”
The Emmy winner, who has been spotted on the picket lines in Los Angeles, added, “Please, explain to me why I shouldn’t be angry, because people are making real-deal sacrifices. People, writers, actors, crew people, all these people are sacrificing their livelihood for this cause. It’s called union strong, where we are all together. And when SAG joined the strike, we should see every movie star out there striking along, because you have insurance because of your union and you get residuals because of your union. All of these things that you get because of your union, and you can’t stand with your union?”
While actors such as Mandy Moore and Amy Sedaris showed support for Silverman’s remarks in the comment section of her post, others offered counterpoints. “I think we are striking certain particular contractual agreements with the amptp – not all work,” Zooey Deschanel wrote. Said Juliette Lewis, “Call me an idealist but my HOPE is that there is a big mid-range Indie movie Renaissance that goes into theatres that are NOT waiting to be ‘sold’ streamers and that this formula and model gets broken and interrupted and threatened.”
Per SAG-AFTRA rules, striking performers are prohibited from promoting their current or upcoming screen work. But Silverman’s post arrives as Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone became the first actor to sign an interim promotional waiver for her own indie, The Unknown Country. In a statement, Gladstone said that her film should be an exception to the rule given that its production existed truly outside of the studio system. “It’s a real moment of equity when our union that is so concerned with our quality of life as a worker is also concerned with these films that highlight these marginalized circles, these quiet small corners, the small independent lens that is really community-grown and very grassroots,” Gladstone said. “There’s no way that the studios would have touched this story. This story only happened because people gave so much to make it happen.”
But this is also a source of division within the actors guild. When asked last week about performers seeking promotional waivers, Emmy winner Bob Odenkirk had a simple answer: “Don’t!” he said from the picket lines. “It’s a strike. Strike. You lose. We lose. Everybody loses. That’s tough shit. Sometimes you have to do the hard thing.”