It’s a Deal!
SAG actors have reached a tentative agreement with eight major Hollywood studios/streamers which will end the almost four-month-long strike at 12:01 a.m. tonight.
SAG-AFTRA Members: We are thrilled & proud to tell you that today your TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee voted unanimously to approve a tentative agreement with the AMPTP. As of 12:01 a.m. PT on Nov. 9, our strike is officially suspended & all picket locations are closed.
Last Friday, Hollywood studios/streamers delivered a new contract offer — their “Last, Best and Final Offer”– to the striking SAG actors, with a zoom meeting scheduled for the following afternoon.
Executives from all 8 negotiating studios/streamers of the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) were present on the Saturday zoom call.
The 8 members are Netflix, Disney-ABC, NBC Universal, Paramount-CBS, Warner Bros Discovery, Sony, Amazon and Apple.
SAG (Screen Actors Guild) negotiators asked for more time to go through the offer. This afternoon the negotiating committee voted unanimously to recommend the agreement to the SAG-AFTRA board.
SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July 14th.
In anticipation of a deal between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA, production has been ramping up for a December/January start in Canadian centres like Vancouver and Toronto.
Related: Superman & Lois Final Season Preps To Start Filming This January in Vancouver
Related: IT Prequel Series Welcome to Derry Preps To Resume Filming This January in Toronto
Halloween headstone in Vancouver.
At issue:
The big shift into streaming made this year’s contract talks an inflection point for Hollywood creatives. The actors’ demands are similar to those of the writers: :higher minimum pay, higher streaming compensation and protection from generative artificial intelligence (AI) replacing the work of their members (by prohibiting an actor’s digital likeness and voice from being used without consent or pay).
At some point, the jig is up. You cannot keep being dwindled and marginalized and disrespected and dishonored. The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI. This is a moment of history. If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble. — SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher.
Since SAG-AFTRA took the picket lines on July 14th, the actors guild has put pressure on the 8 negotiating studio/streamers aka the struck companies by allowing its members to work on other productions as long as those companies sign an interim agreement.
Scores of independent production companies have signed SAG-AFTRA interim agreements.
For example, Hallmark signed a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement that allowed guild actors to work on season 11 of When Calls the Heart, which has been filming in Vancouver/Langley since mid-July and wrapped earlier this week.
The Deal:
Minimum wages:
AMPTP’s offer rose from 5% to 7% increase in the first year of a proposed three-year contract and the SAG demand dropped from 11% to 9%. What is the deal?
Streaming Compensation:
SAG-AFTRA started out wanting 2 percent of the total revenue generated by streaming shows then pivoted to $1 payments for each streaming subscriber but the AMPTP rejected both. The guild then proposed success-based streaming residuals similar to the WGA deal but with SAG-AFTRA administrating the money (determining who gets the bonuses) and processing the payments rather than the AMPTP. What is the deal?
Artificial Intelligence:
SAG-AFTRA is worried that A.I. can be used to create digital replicas of their likenesses (or that performances could be digitally altered) without approval or compensation. What is the deal?