Movie studios and actors’ guild reach ‘tentative’ deal to end the actors strike
The 118-day actors strike has officially ended, pending a final vote on the “tentative” agreement between the actors guild and movie studios.
Striking actors in the US will be able to resume work after studios and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) agreed on a deal to give the entertainment workers new rights and benefits.
On Friday, SAG-AFTRA will bring the proposed agreement to their 160,000 members, who will then vote to ratify the agreement. If they do not agree to the terms of the deal, the strike will restart.
The deal brings an end to the 118-day strike that began on July 14 — the longest actors strike in Hollywood history, beating out a 95-day strike in 1980.
It was combined with a writers strike between May 2 and September 27, which saw productions across the film industry stalled for more than six months.
Variety reports the deal is said to include “sweeping” protections for actors against the misuse of AI, and a pay increase that would include a 7 per cent increase in most minimums.
The Screen Actors Guild posted on social media the deal was valued at “over one billion dollars” and included “unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation”, along with a streaming participation bonus.
“Many thousands of performers now and into the future will benefit from this work,” the guild said.
THE #SagAftraStrike IS OVER.
— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) November 9, 2023
🧵 Thread below. pic.twitter.com/KDTl9uKBRt
SAG-AFTRA was presented with a “last, best and final” offer from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on Sunday, but negotiations continued beyond this point.
The actors guild refused to agree to the offer while it still contained a clause allowing for entertainment companies to re-use AI scans of actors without their consent, including after their death.
After initial negotiations between the guild and the AMPTP had stalled, talks restarted on October 24, involving CEOs and Chairpersons from Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal.
“We didn’t just come toward you, we came all the way to you,” Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said during negotiations on Saturday.
Disney CEO Bob Iger claimed that the Hollywood strikes have had a “negligible” financial impact, but experts estimated in July the strikes could exceed $3 billion in economic fallout. In the 100-day Writers Strike of 2007-2008, Hollywood experienced an estimated $2.1 billion loss, along with the loss of an estimated 37,700 jobs.
During the strike, the production and promotion of films by actors were allowed to continue if an interim agreement was signed, agreeing to the initial terms of SAG-AFTRA’s proposal before the strike began. Several films with studios independent of the AMPTP agreed to this, including blockbuster film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Actors and entertainment workers affected by the strikes have been able to afford essentials over the past several months through charitable foundations such as the Entertainment Community Fund, the Motion Picture & Television Fund, and the SAG-AGTRA Foundation, which has received several millions of dollars in donations from actors such as Meryl Streep, Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.
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