SAG-AFTRA And AMPTP Reach Tentative Agreement On New Contract After 118-Day Strike
Just a month shorter than the WGA, but the studios’ self-inflicted damage is done
It’s over, it’s finally over. The actors of SAG-AFTRA and the studios of the AMPTP have a tentative deal on a contract that will end the guild’s strike at 12:01 AM Pacific (3:01 AM Eastern) on Thursday, November 9, after 119 days.
While the studios were hit with dismal earnings calls, they issued an ultimatum of 8 PM Eastern (5 PM Pacific), which apparently worked because that’s when the end was called. SAG-AFTRA’s 17-member negotiating committee unanimously voted to recommend a tentative agreement to the guild board. With finishing touches, a cursory look at the victories created over the last several days sees “the largest increase in minimum wages in the last forty years; a brand new residual for streaming programs; extensive consent and compensation protections in the use of artificial intelligence; and sizable contract increases on items across the board”. Most minimums will increase by 7%, which is two percent more than what the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America each received. Details of the deal are expected to come when the agreement goes to them on Friday.
The ultimatum came with warnings that they were “running out of time to save the broadcast season and the 2024 summer movie slate”. As the announcement came down, it was reported that NBC and Fox moved their new series completely to next broadcast season, while CBS moved the Matlock reboot and Poppa’s House there.
The strike began on July 14. It took around 80 days for the AMPTP to even try to meet at SAG-AFTRA headquarters. on October 11, with the AMPTP leaving negotiations early and formally suspended talks a few hours later. Then, on October 21, after SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher called out in frustration the “AMPTPs strategy of non-negotiation” and “a blatant propaganda attempt to discredit union leadership and divide our solidarity” it was Bob Iger who was shaken up enough to call. On the strike’s 100th day, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP put out a joint statement that they were heading back to talk on October 24, once at the guild’s headquarters. That first day was “not great,” a well-positioned source says. The studios put out unsatisfactory offers, and so the guild stood firm, but willing to talk if they would.
The final days went as so: The AMPTP delivered its “last, best and final” offer on Friday, which had a bigger bonus for actors who appear on streaming’s biggest hits. However a key union priority, significant revenue sharing from each streamer, was absent. The negotiating committee spent 12 hours on Sunday creating its response. Monday saw the union remark that “several key items” remained contentious. The AMPTP had AI-related concessions on Monday night, and that led to a SAG-AFTRA committee meeting on Tuesday that lasted for 10 hours.
SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee member Kevin E. West said there were “tears of exhilaration and joy” in the room upon the contract’s approval. “The final vote was unanimous. That’s a difficult thing to accomplish. It’s honestly been a really long two weeks.” While the final deal is “not perfect”, as he relents nothing is, the fact that they got to this point was considered an “extraordinary” achievement.
Reactions have come in too, like from Daniel Dae Kim who said "Woo hooo! Let’s hope the deal is fair and we can get back to work!" Kumail Nanjiani said "YES! Hallelujah" while Rosie Perez went "Say what? Yay! The strike is over!"
The deal not only includes the revenue sharing, called a “streaming participation bonus” in the email sent to SAG-AFTRA members, which seems to have then been distributed in a thread on Twitter to the public, but increases in pension and health contributions. The union said the contract is worth more than $1 billion in total.
“We have arrived at a contract that will enable SAG-AFTRA members from every category to build sustainable careers,” the union said in the email. “Many thousands of performers now and into the future will benefit from this work.”
Both the Writers and Directors Guild sent their regards. Having eclipsed the previous-longest actors’ strike by 23 days, the attention will soon turn to those industry guilds whose contracts predate those of SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild that have certainly raised the baseline standards of a fair deal and expectations as well. Notably, the contracts for The Animation Guild and IATSE expire at the end of this upcoming July.
