THE longest-ever strike by film and television actors in the United States reached its 100th day on Saturday.

On the same day, the Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra) and an alliance representing major studios announced in a joint statement that negotiations would resume on Tuesday.

Top industry executives look set to join the new round of talks, in a move mirroring the negotiations that eventually settled the recent Writers Guild strike.

Hopes of a settlement of the actors’ dispute were high when talks resumed on October 2 for the first time since the strike began two-and-a-half months before.

But the studios abruptly ended discussions October 11, claiming that the actors’ demands on streaming services and the use of artificial intelligence were exorbitantly expensive and meant that the two sides were too far apart to continue.

Sag-Aftra president Fran Drescher complained: “We only met with them a couple of times.

“I’ve never really met people that actually don’t understand what negotiations mean. Why are you walking away from the table?”

The reasons for the talks being cut short, according to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, included a union demand for a fee for each subscriber to streaming services.

The studios’ alliance said: “Sag-Aftra gave the member companies an ultimatum — either agree to a proposal for a tax on subscribers as well as all other open items or else the strike would continue.”

Union leaders said it was ridiculous to frame this demand as though it were a tax on customers. 

Sag-Aftra said it was willing to resume talks at any time, but that it would not change its demands.

“I think that they think that we’re going to cower,” Ms Drescher said. 

“But that’s never going to happen because this is a crossroads and we must stay on course.”