After spending the last six months on strike, Hollywood is finally going back to work, with actors union SAG-AFTRA agreeing to a tentative deal with the studios.
“In a unanimous vote this afternoon, The SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical Committee approved a tentative agreement with the AMPTP bringing an end to the 118 day strike,” the union said in a statement. “The strike officially ends at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, November 9.”
The tentative contract still has to be be ratified by the union’s board and members. If approved, it will increase minimum pay for members, and up their residual payments for streaming shows and movies. The deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) will also improve contributions to the union’s health and pension plans.
And it establishes new rules for the use of artificial intelligence, a major flashpoint amid both the actors and writers strikes.
The Writers Guild of America went on strike over largely the same concerns on May 1, with a resolution to that work stoppage reached on Sept. 24.
SAG-AFTRA began its strike in mid-July, effectively curtailing film, TV and streaming production for six months. By one estimate, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes combined to cause $7 billion in damage to the broader economy.
The breakthrough came after the AMPTP on Friday delivered what it termed as its "last, best and final" offer.
Over the weekend, top studio and streaming executives met in Los Angeles with leading union officials to hammer out the agreement. This A list reportedly included Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and NBCUniversal Studio Group Chair and Chief Content Officer Donna Langley.
