An End to the Strike

After 118 days on the picket lines, the strike by the actors, aka SAG-AFTRA, against the AMPTP (the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers), otherwise known as the studios, came to an end.

The national board of SAG-AFTRA approved the new contract with an 86% approval vote, now it just needs to be ratified by its membership, which was to get underway this week. The ratification vote will end on December 5.

The official approval was announced on Friday afternoon with SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, national director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and members of the union’s contract negotiating committee on hand to make the announcement.

While SAG-AFTRA didn’t get everything they were looking for in the negotiations, it would seem that they got much of what they were hoping to receive (or at least close to what they were demanding). The deal inclues a 7% raise in most minimums, a percentage that “breaks the industry pattern” according to Crabtree-Ireland. The deal also includes more than $1 billion (yep, that’s with a “B”) in new wages and benefit plan funding over three years and a new $40 million residual bonus.

SAG-AFTRA wanted all of the $40 million to go to a fund that would be distributed to a broad range of performers, but the studios would only permit 25% to go into the fund. The rest of the money will go to the cast of streaming shows that reach a certain benchmark of success. Getting the studios to agree to the fund was one of the last elements that helped close the deal according to Crabtree-Ireland.

One of the other important roadblocks was that of artificial intelligence (AI). In the new deal, there will be guardrails against the use of AI, however, it does allow AI to be used to create “digital replicas if actors are paid and give their permission.”

RELATED: The Latest on the Hollywood Strikes and The Strikes Just Keep Rolling On

Another deal point was an increase of 11% for background actors, who will see their daily rate raise to $207. And, the deal also includes the first increases in contribution caps for the pension and health plan in 40 years (yep, you read that correctly – 40 years!). Series performers will also get a 153% increase in their relocation allowance per month.

Other deal points include:

* An increase in the number of background actor who must be hired on union terms on the West Coast to equal the number in New York;
* A provision requiring hair and makeup for diverse performers and intimacy coordinators for scenes involving nudity or simulated sex; and,
* An 8-page limit for self-taped audition, which increases to 12 pages for callbacks.

If you are interested, you can learn more about the full deal here.

Now, of course, it’s the time crunch to get movies back on track and/or finished for next year’s blockbuster season and, naturally, to get the TV season back on track as well. CBS has already announced return dates for some of its new and existing series with many more announcements assuredly coming very soon.

So, what is your opinion on the strikes by the writers and the actors? Please share those with us below.

Source: Variety