Will Daytime Soaps Go Dark On July 1, Everything To Know About Possible SAG-AFTRA Strike

Daytime Drama News and Spoilers report that a SAG-AFTRA strike could soon become reality, doubling down on the entertainment industry’s woes as the WGA is currently on strike. What happens if the Screen Actor’s Guild goes on strike, will actors cross the picket line or will daytime fans be watching repeats? Let’s breakdown what soap fans need to know about an event that could put their shows on hold.

Daytime Drama News And Spoilers – Double Strike In Store?

Deadline reports that even if the strike happens on schedule, on July 1, the rules in the SAG-AFTRA movie and television contract won’t apply to soap actors. That’s because soap actors are grouped under the National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting (Network Code), unlike other television and film actors. When the WGA strike started at 12:01 a.m. on May 2, late-night shows went dark, but soap fans will not see the same happen with their shows.

The National Code applies to daytime dramas as well as morning talk shows, reality, game shows, sports, and talk shows. The agreement was implemented in 2022 and lasts through 2024, and is distinct from the terms SAG-AFTRA is negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

Daytime Drama News And Spoilers – Actors Strike

According to Deadline, “SAG-AFTRA’s film and TV contract, which expires June 30, does not apply to SAG-AFTRA members working on soaps. It means those cast members will have to continue to work even if their guild goes on strike after the membership voted overwhelmingly for strike authorization ahead of SAG-AFTRA’s current negotiations with the studios’ collective bargaining representative the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.”

As the outlet notes, the four remaining sudsers, The Young and the Restless (CBS), The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS), Days Of Our Lives (Peacock) and General Hospital (ABC), are “continuing to churn out scripts amid the WGA strike using fi-core and other non-member writers” and as such “those shows appear positioned to continue production without interruption for the foreseeable future.”

Daytime Drama News And Spoilers – Actors And Writers Strike

Daytime dramas film weeks in advance with Days of Our Lives filming six months ahead. Deadline adds that the shows have not gone into repeats (as was the case during the Covid shutdown in 2020) because “financial core (fi-core) writers, who have resigned their WGA membership” as well as some “producers, assistants and executives, also are involved in writing in some cases.”

The last time the WGA went on strike in 2007-08, “28 writers went fi-core per the guild; almost all of them worked on daytime dramas. There were eight soaps at the time that kept going during the work stoppage.”

Daytime dramas air five days a week with Ron Carlivati, the head writer on Days of Our Lives and a striking WGA member, saying “The shows don’t stop. They replaced us in 2007 when I worked at One Life to Live, and I can only assume they’re replacing us right now.”

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Deadline reports that “all daytime dramas except The Young and the Restless are taking extended summer breaks; The Bold and the Beautiful and General Hospital are going on monthlong production hiatus in July, while Days of Our Lives‘ three-week hiatus starts this weekend … Regardless of what happens between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP, the casts will be expected to report back to work once those breaks are over.”

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