After a 118-day strike by the actors’ guild, SAG-AFTRA and the studios reached a tentative agreement Wednesday on a new contract that could get Hollywood back up and running within weeks.
We are informed that the strike will take place on Thursday 9 November at 12:01 p.m. PT will end. It ended more than seven months of labor unrest in Hollywood, during which the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA joined the industry grouping. First collective strike in over 60 years.
Capping a dramatic day of studio results and deadline ultimatums, the Screen Actors Guild’s 17-member negotiating committee voted unanimously this afternoon to recommend a tentative agreement to the SAG-AFTRA board.
Specific details of the transaction are expected to be disclosed when the agreement is presented to the board on Friday.
Nearly a month after members of the Writers Guild overwhelmingly ratified their own agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the SAG-AFTRA agreement is the culmination of the latest round of renewed negotiations that began on October 24. During the negotiations, Ted Sarandos of Netflix, Bob Iger of Disney, Donna Langley of NBCUniversal and David Zaslav of Warner Bros. Discovery regularly participated directly in the discussions.
The tentative agreement follows studios’ response last Friday to the guild’s latest expanded counter with a self-described “historical” package. That was followed less than 24 hours later by a sizable group of studio executives — including executives from Paramount, Amazon, Apple and more — joining the gang of four to inform SAG-AFTRA of AMPTP’s offer, which they say is huge would yield profits. . Wages and bonuses as well as comprehensive AI safeguards.
“We didn’t just come to you, we came to you,” Sarandos told union leaders Saturday, before SAG-AFTRA began poring over the fine print. Further talks between the two parties began earlier this week when the guild reviewed the studios’ latest proposals.
After discussions this week, the AMPTP told SAG-AFTRA today at 5:00 PM PT that it needs to know by 5:00 PM PT whether or not an agreement is possible, and said the time for completion is 2024 – Agreement will be strictly broadcast season and summer film to save money.
About half an hour later the deal was confirmed.
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If all goes according to plan and the board signs the tentative contract, eligible members of the 160,000-member Actors Guild will soon vote on ratifying the new contract. With SAG-AFTRA ending the strike shortly after midnight and before the ratification vote is complete, people can quickly get back to work and production will quickly resume.
Today’s tentative agreement exposes many changes and divisions in the industry over the past decade and marks the end of a long road full of detours and pitfalls.
In total, the six-month Hollywood strikes are estimated to have cost Southern California’s economy more than $6.5 billion and 45,000 entertainment jobs after production ground to a halt as the WGA crossed the lines and SAG-AFTRA followed suit in the middle of the month . July. On an individual level, the workers’ actions created a passionate unity among guild members. At the same time—a fact not lost on the studios and their strategy—many guild members are suffering crippling financial problems, as are employees who have been out of work for months.
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After the strike was called on July 14, it took about 80 days for the guild and studio executives to begin their first official in-person meetings at SAG-AFTRA headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard. Despite all the optimism and momentum brought by the completed WGA agreement, new consultations between SAG-AFTRA and the studios that began on October 2 collapsed on October 11 and AMPTP called off negotiations shortly after the guild offered an alternative to its controversial income. – Share suggestion. A few hours later, before further scheduled talks the next day, SAG-AFTRA chairman Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland received a call informing them that deliberations had been “suspended”.
“Last night they introduced an additional subscription charge [other] areas,” Sarandos said at an industry conference the next day, calling the proposal a “bridge too far” and blaming the guild for ending the talks. SAG-AFTRA later accused the studios of “bullying tactics” and “using the same failed strategy they tried to apply to the WGA”.
On Oct. 18, after Netflix said in its third-quarter earnings report that talks were “ongoing” and Sarandos said the guild had “really broken our momentum toward a deal,” Crabtree-Ireland called BS. “The best way to reach an agreement and end this strike is for him and the other CEOs to walk their strike off the bargaining table and resume negotiations,” SAG-AFTRA national director and chief negotiator told Deadline . “We were and are ready to continue the discussions – every day.”
After George Clooney and other high-profile figures made a highly praised but unsatisfying offer to step in and restart talks, the actors’ strike looked set to pass the 100-day mark with no end in sight. Then, on October 21, after Drescher strongly criticized the “AMPTP’s strategy of non-negotiation” and “a blatant propaganda effort to discredit the union leadership and divide our solidarity,” Bob Iger called Crabtree-Ireland and asked that an action begins. new discussion group.
On the 100th day of the strike at 3:00 PM PT, SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP released a joint statement saying they will return to the negotiating table at the guild’s headquarters on October 24. This first day of negotiations between the parties was “not great,” a well-informed source said. When the studios made a new offer they hoped would end the “performance-based pay” dispute, the guild was unfazed but also open to further discussion.
Although the parties agreed to meet on October 25, the guild asked that morning to set aside the day to consider the studios’ proposal for higher bonuses based on the success of streaming shows and films, as well as another increase to discuss the minimum rates. “This is a step in the right direction and the negotiating committee is taking the time to conduct a thorough review,” a guild source told Deadline.
The two parties met again in person around noon on October 26, with Crabtree-Ireland telling Deadline he was “cautiously optimistic” about talks with the studios. According to sources, the guild floated a self-proclaimed “comprehensive meeting point” aimed at bringing the two sides closer together. As open letters from both supportive and impatient guild members circulated around town, the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee were back in active discussions on October 27. As both sides used October 30 to “work independently”, virtual consultations continued over the weekend. where the parties try to bridge their differences.
The parties met again on Halloween and in early November. As the parties “grew ever closer,” as a guild source told Deadline, Crabtree-Ireland and Lombardini continued to consult directly on issues, bringing together groups of lawyers and other specialists in search of an agreement – with success, as we now know. Two days of Guild deliberation followed, the studios’ response on November 3rd in the Guild’s final window, and the backlash from SAG-AFTRA on November 6th led to both sides finding an AI compromise and getting things started worked out to regulate what we know now. the final phase.
Of course, the deadline the studios gave the guild today to talk to them about reaching an agreement was a short-term wildcard. Fortunately for all, calmer heads prevailed.
Achieving this new three-year deal required an unexpected strike by the Screen Actors Guild (which many studio executives believed was a bluff despite an overwhelming strike authorization order), many moving parts, solidarity with the guild, and some tough negotiations.
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The actors’ union joined the WKV when it went on strike on 14 July. There were many hot summer days when the workers’ struggle remained at a standstill.
But after Labor Day, things changed. The WGA reached an agreement with the AMPTP on 24 September after five months of protest and five intensive days of deliberations involving the CEO Gang of Four for most of these final meetings. WGA leadership agreed to the tentative agreement and ended the strike on September 27 at 12:01 a.m. PT. WGA members approved the agreement by a large majority on October 9.
The studios and SAG-AFTRA planned to ride the wave of the WGA agreement and hold meetings for their own discussions in about a week. However, as the goodwill from the WKV’s successful negotiations spilled over into bitter public calls from leaders on both sides, many feared that even with another round of talks, the actors’ strike could continue well into the holidays, giving any chance can cut back on a partial negotiation. . The broadcast season begins and we come across the 2024 movie list.
This catastrophe seems to have been averted now.
Source: Deadline
Bernice Bonaparte is an author and entertainment journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a passion for pop culture and a talent for staying up-to-date on the latest entertainment news, Bernice has become a trusted source for information on the entertainment industry.
