SAG-AFTRA has reached a tentative agreement with the studios
Hollywood actors will return to work in TV and movies: The Actors Guild’s negotiating team on Wednesday reached a tentative agreement with the group that represents studios and streaming companies, ending a historic 118-day strike that began July 14.
The 160,000-member Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has agreed to a new three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents eight major studios and streaming companies including Disney and Netflix. Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon.
“We are pleased and proud to tell you that your Television and Theatrical Negotiating Committee today voted unanimously to approve a tentative agreement with AMPTP,” SAG-AFTRA announced late Wednesday. “As of 12:01 a.m. (PT) on November 9, our strike has officially ended and all picket locations have been suspended.”
The deal will allow studios to resume production of TV shows and movies that have been largely shut down for the past six months, since the Writers Guild of America began its own strike on May 2.
About 60,000 members of the union were affected by the strike. Union members are scheduled to schedule a vote in the coming days to officially authorize the deal, putting the actors one step closer to stepping in front of the cameras again. Broadcast networks could potentially salvage part of the 2023-2024 TV season by airing some new episodes of scripted series as early as February, while movies could restart production to fill a depleted pipeline.
After two and a half months of strike action without negotiations, SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP met for the first time on October 2, but talks broke down when AMPTP walked out on October 11. Studio representatives said that “the talks[are]no longer moving us in a productive direction.”
Bargaining resumed on October 24 and included top executives from four Hollywood studios as the two sides attempted to reach an agreement.
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher was prepared for a “long-term” strike.
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, star of the hit 1990s sitcom “The Nanny,” said in July that the union was prepared for a “long-term” strike to achieve demands that included increasing actors’ salaries and setting actors’ compensation based on wages. The success of their shows and movies on streaming services. Protecting against studios’ use of artificial intelligence and digital replicas of actors was also among the guild’s priorities, but the studios initially responded to several of the guild’s requests before reaching a compromise.
The contract, worth more than $1 billion, brought pay increases, unprecedented provisions to protect members from the threat of artificial intelligence, and a new “broadcast participation bonus,” among other benefits, the SAG-AFTRA statement said. “We have reached a contract that will enable SAG-AFTRA members of every category to build sustainable careers,” the union statement said. Many thousands of performers now and in the future will benefit from this work.”
The studio group called the agreement a “new model” and said AMPTP is “pleased to reach a tentative agreement and looks forward to the industry resuming the work of great storytelling.” During most of the summer, the actors participated in the picket line with WGA members who were on strike for 148 days. Actors’ and writers’ strikes shut down film and television production in Hollywood throughout the summer and fall.
WGA leadership voted on September 27 to confirm a deal with AMPTP, returning some television shows to the air, including “Saturday Night Live” and daytime and late-night talk shows such as “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “The Tonight Show.” “Starring Jimmy Fallon”. “Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
The WGA congratulated SAG-AFTRA on the deal on the union’s official X account previously Twitter.
“We are thrilled to see SAG-AFTRA members win a contract that creates new protections for performers and gives them a greater share of the tremendous value they create,” the statement said.
The writers’ strike officially endsHollywood writers sign new contract with studios
