SAG-AFTRA to Unveil Tentative Agreement Details at Friday Press Conference
SAG-AFTRA will reveal details of the tentative agreement reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers during a press conference at the actors guild’s headquarters on Friday.
The press conference on the deal will be streamed on the guild’s YouTube page at 1 p.m. PT, taking place after the guild holds a national board meeting where the deal will be approved for presentation to the guild’s members for a ratification vote.
“We have achieved a deal of extraordinary scope that includes ‘above-pattern’ minimum compensation increases, unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI, and for the first time establishes a streaming participation bonus,” the guild said in a statement on Wednesday.
The tentative agreement comes after weeks of talks that began Oct. 2 and included a two-week pause after talks broke down over differences in SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP’s proposals on streaming compensation. The guild announced the deal on Wednesday evening, ending the actors’ strike at 118 days.
Their Wednesday statement continues, “Our Pension & Health caps have been substantially raised, which will bring much needed value to our plans. In addition, the deal includes numerous improvements for multiple categories including outsize compensation increases for background performers, and critical contract provisions protecting diverse communities.”
The guild shared a celebratory message with its members on Thursday, trumpeting the call for actors to return to work effective immediately.
Combined, the strikes staged by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA shut down Hollywood productions for 191 days, costing the entertainment industry 45,000 production jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The double strike, which was Hollywood’s first since 1960, put the seismic changes the entertainment industry has faced with the rise of streaming at the forefront. Writers and actors called out studios for decoupling the success of films and shows on streaming services from the compensation that they receive for their work on those titles.
The strike also brought the issue of artificial intelligence to the fore as creatives expressed their concerns that studios would exploit the technology to digitally replicate their work without their consent. The negotiations that led to agreement with WGA and SAG-AFTRA both involved lengthy discussions about protections against AI abuse, along with extensive talks between union and studio lawyers about how existing copyright and fair use laws may apply to the fledgling technology.
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