LOS ANGELES — SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee has approved a tentative deal with the major studios that would end a nearly four-month-long strike that has sidelined thousands of workers.
The tentative contract – which still must be ratified by the union’s board and members – would boost minimum pay for members, increase residual payments for shows streamed online, and bolster contributions to the union’s health and pension plans. It also establishes new rules for the use of artificial intelligence, a major source of concern for actors.
The breakthrough came after a tense week. Studio chiefs on Friday presented what they called their “last, best, and final” offer, which the executives said addressed the guild’s demands. The two sides met Saturday afternoon to go over the proposal and company representatives stressed that they needed movement from SAG-AFTRA to be able to salvage the current television season.
SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, left, rallies striking actors in outside Paramount Pictures studio on Friday, in Los Angeles. Chris Pizzello/Associated Press
SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee then spent four days scrutinizing and debating the proposals before delivering the union’s answer.
The hard-fought accord ends one of Hollywood’s most fraught periods of labor conflict and the longest-ever actors’ strike.
SAG-AFTRA members walked out on July 14, joining striking Writers Guild of America members, launching the industry’s first twin strikes since 1960. Writers spent nearly five months on picket lines before reaching a new contract in late September with the media companies’ bargaining arm, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
After sealing that deal, the studios were motivated to resolve the actors’ standoff to salvage the current television season and next year’s theatrical film slate. Film executives also worried that the feature film business, which has been ailing since COVID-19 shutdowns, would struggle to recover if theaters went another year without potential blockbusters to draw moviegoers to cinemas.
Four top corporate executives – Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, NBCUniversal Studio Group Chairman Donna Langley, and Warner Bros. Discovery Chief David Zaslav – joined AMPTP President Carol Lombardini to hammer out a deal with SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.
The nearly four-month actors’ strike exposed deep fears over the future of entertainment employment and rising technology. Actors have worried that artificial intelligence could be used to create digital replicas of performers, replacing the need for actual actors in the background – a source of income for scores of performers.
The shift to streaming has disrupted the industry’s decades-old economic model. Netflix and other streaming services typically pay performers upfront, minimizing the residuals that working actors have relied on to sustain themselves between jobs. Union leaders entered the strike hoping to claw back some relief for working actors as the industry moves away from the 22-episode season network TV orders in favor of six- to 13-episode seasons, which are more the norm for streamers.
“I will not cave and I will not let them down,” Drescher said in an October interview.
In addition to Netflix and the traditional companies, the AMPTP bargains on behalf of Amazon Studios and Apple TV. Over the weekend, heads of several other studios joined the Zoom calls with SAG-AFTRA.
The work stoppage dealt a devastating financial blow to film industry workers beyond members of the two striking guilds. Many workers have been without a job since April, and businesses that support the production industry also saw their sales suffer.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that since last spring, more than 45,000 jobs were erased from payrolls in the entertainment and sound recording industries. The dual strikes have caused an estimated $7 billion in economic damage, according to Todd Holmes, associate professor of entertainment media management at Cal State Northridge.
SAG-AFTRA’s bargaining position was strengthened by historic solidarity. Throughout the summer and fall, actors and striking WGA members were joined on picket lines by nurses, county workers, Teamsters, and members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents film set workers. IATSE’s contract with the studios is up next year.
“The workers had more bargaining power during these negotiations so it took time for the companies to realize that they needed to yield more and meet the union’s demands,” Eunice Han, a University of Utah economics professor specializing in labor, said in an interview.
The path to a truce was bumpy. The AMPTP entered into negotiations with the actors’ union on June 7, just three weeks before their contract was due to expire. Initially, it appeared the two sides were making progress toward a deal, but they were unable to bridge key differences, despite a last-minute move by the companies to bring in a federal mediator.
A high-profile warning by A-list actors helped set the stage for the work stoppage.
In late June, actors including Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, and Amy Schumer signed a letter encouraging SAG-AFTRA leaders not to settle for anything less than a “transformative deal.” The letter, delivered at a time when SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee was struggling for traction in the talks, added pressure on Drescher and Crabtree-Ireland to hold out for considerable gains.
SAG-AFTRA’s contract expired June 30, but the group extended the deadline to July 12. That date came and went without a deal.
After 2 1/2 months of workers on picket lines and a virtual work stoppage for scripted television and movies, the AMPTP invited SAG-AFTRA back to the table on Oct. 2.
After five days of talks at SAG-AFTRA’s headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard, negotiations broke down on Oct. 11. The studios paused the bargaining in protest of the union’s stance on streaming revenue sharing, a sticking point throughout the negotiations. The AMPTP’s initial proposals to put guardrails on the use of artificial intelligence remained a sticking point throughout the talks, sources said.
Finally, Iger called Crabtree-Ireland to lay the groundwork to restart negotiations after a nearly two-week pause.
A-list actors, including George Clooney, Ben Affleck, and Scarlett Johansson, also approached SAG-AFTRA leaders to discuss ways to resolve the strike. The move prompted a separate group of actors to encourage the negotiating committee to stand firm.
“The guilds were probably thinking: Let’s not give in because we’ve come this far,’” Han said. “‘If we wait a few more days we’ll probably get what we want – at least closer to what we want.’”
Negotiations resumed after the actors marked 100 days on strike.
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