2023-11-09 11:04:32
The Hollywood Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) reached agreements yesterday (Wednesday) with the Studio Union that will bring an end to the actors’ strike that paralyzed the film and television industry in Hollywood for about four months.
The agreement, which is planned to be for three years, is still subject to the vote of the board of directors of the union, but they have already announced that the strike will end today at 12 o’clock in the morning. “We have reached a contract that will allow SAG-AFTRA members of all occupations to build sustainable careers,” according to union officials in a statement. “Many thousands of present and future players will benefit from this work.”
Over 60,000 SAG-AFTRA members went on strike on July 14th, effectively joining screenwriters who began a parallel strike over two months earlier. It was the first time that the two major unions in Hollywood met together since 1960 (then Ronald Reagan, later President of the United States, headed the Actors’ Union). The studios and writers reached agreements that brought their strike to an end on September 26.
The terms of the agreements reached for the players were not made public, but the union estimated its cost at more than a billion dollars, and said that its details would be published after the meeting of the members of the union management on Friday, in which they would approve the agreement. The issues that were on the agenda included both the immediate payments for productions and the issue of future royalty payments for film and television appearances (with an emphasis on regulating the issue of royalties for streaming broadcasts), along with the series of issues concerning the actors’ control over their ‘deaths’ and the materials produced from their work in the age of intelligence the artificial
“These agreements represent a new paradigm. They give SAG-AFTRA the most significant additions to an agreement in the union’s history, including the largest increase in the minimum wage in forty years; an entirely new royalty mechanism for streaming broadcasts; extensive consent and royalty protections artificial; and additional significant increases in other issues that were on the table,” the Association of Studios (AMPTP) said in a statement Wednesday evening. The organization, which negotiates on behalf of major studios and streaming companies, said it “expects the industry to resume its work: to tell big stories.” Executives from leading entertainment companies, including Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and Universal, were direct partners in the negotiations.
The Writers and Screenwriters Guild of America (WGA) also praised the agreements: “We are excited to see SAG-AFTRA members reach an agreement that creates new protections for actors and gives them a greater share of the enormous value they produce,” the union said in a statement. “When workers are united, they win!”.
Besides the return to the photo set: the award ceremonies will also return
Although the writers’ strike had immediate and visible effects for viewers, including the months-long suspension of late-night talk shows and “Saturday Night Live,” the impact of the actors’ absence was not clear and immediate. But its inherent effects—postponing release dates and waiting for new seasons of shows—may be felt for months and even years to come. Actors need to quickly return to the sets of films where production has been suspended, including “Deadpool 3,” “Gladiator 2” and “Wicked.” Other films and programs will start filming as soon as the writers who returned from a strike about a month and a half ago finish their scripts.
Beyond the future productions, the end of the actors’ strike will also allow the actors to return to the ‘red carpet’ events, launches and promotions of films that have already been released, and the Hollywood award ceremonies that were postponed due to the strike, as well as to talk shows and podcasts, since a key part of the organizational steps taken by the union was a directive to the actors not to engage In promoting and advertising the products that have already been released.
“The SAG strike is over! I can finally say it: watch my documentary Saturday night at 8 on HBO/MAX!” actor-director Albert Brooks said on social media moments after the strike ended. “I couldn’t say a word until now!”. The only two major awards affected by the strike were the Emmys, which were postponed from September to January, and the fall Oscars.
Among the factors that pushed for the strike were the technological changes in the industry, including the penetration of the streaming companies that are gradually replacing the manual channel model and the development of the technology of creative artificial intelligence – trends that are expected to continue to develop. Thus, it is possible that the achievements of the writers’ and actors’ unions will push other unions in Hollywood into similar struggles, and it is also possible that in the future, at the end of the period of the current agreements, these issues will arise once again.
The union leaders treated the strike as a watershed moment in the history of the industry, which also arose against the background of more extensive labor struggles in other industries. SAG-AFTRA president and “Nanny” star Fran Drescher told the AP in an interview in August that she “thinks there is a public debate today about the culture of big business, and the way it treats everyone along the scale in the name of profit.”
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the CEO and chief negotiator who led the players’ negotiating team, told the AP in August that “I’m honored to be a part of making sure our guys get a fair contract that protects them in the future, and making sure that the 14-year-olds that I talked to The protest shift in front of the Disney company will still have the ability to be actors when they turn 18.”
The agreement will also allow the return to work on the sets of thousands of additional workers such as the camera crew members who did not have work during the strikes. SAG-AFTRA sought to reduce their plight by allowing interim agreements for some smaller productions, and by making the organization’s strike fund available to benefit all workers in the industry and not just the actors.
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