Talks between striking Hollywood workers and major film studios have stalled and the strikers' chief negotiator on Thursday urged studios to return to the table.

"I urge them to come back to the table and make a fair deal. That's the only way these strikes are going to come to an end," Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, who negotiates on behalf of the 160,000 movie and television actors who belong to the Screen Actors Guild or SAG-AFTRA, said in Toronto, Canada during the opening of the Toronto International Film  Festival.

"The studios have not come back to the table. They have not said that they want to come back to the table. (…) It's been 56 days," he said.

Crabtree-Ireland said more than 1,200 independent producers had signed off on the deal that the guild proposed to studios on the last day of bargaining, noting: "They realize the terms are reasonable, the terms are absolutely realistic and doable."

In mid-July, actors joined writers on the picket line in the first industry-wide walkout for 63 years over pay and other work conditions, effectively bringing the giant film and television business to a halt.

The walkouts have brought new productions to a halt, but also have put a crimp in this year's fall film festivals, with many actors eschewing premieres to respect SAG-AFTRA rules barring promotion of projects from the big studios and streamers.

WITH AFP