After a work stoppage that effectively ground the Hollywood film and TV industry to a halt for months, the Sag-Aftra union announced on Wednesday that it had reached a tentative agreement to end the strike, sparking jubilation among prominent Hollywood actors including Alec Baldwin and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Roughly a month after writers ended a similar strike, Sag-Aftra and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) – which represents Walt Disney, Netflix and other media companies – reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday. The deal, which ended the longest-ever strike for film and television actors, came after parties had resumed talks last week following stalled negotiations in early October.
The actor and Sag-Aftra president, Fran Drescher, posted: “We did it!!!!”, and thanked her fellow union members “for hanging in and holding out for this historic deal!”
At the premiere for his wrestling film The Iron Claw, the actor Zac Efron described the deal as “incredible” while his co-star Jeremy Allen White – who also stars in the TV drama The Bear – exclaimed “That’s amazing!” after hearing the strike was over while being interviewed on the red carpet with Entertainment Tonight.
On Instagram the Oscar winner Octavia Spencer posted: “Who else is dancing right now???” while Jamie Lee Curtis said “perseverance pays off” and Alec Baldwin offered his “congratulations to everyone who did this great work on behalf of the members”.
The union said the new contract achieved what actors on the picket lines had said they needed: pay increases and protections that made it possible for “Sag-Aftra members from every category to build sustainable careers”.
In a public statement, it added: “In a contract valued at over $1bn, we have achieved a deal of extraordinary scope.” Among its wins, the union said, were larger-than-expected increases in minimum compensation, a first-time “streaming participation bonus”, and “unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI”.
Hollywood producers also touted the tentative deal as establishing “a new paradigm” for the industry. The contract “gives Sag-Aftra the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union, including 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”, the AMPTP said in a statement on Wednesday night.
The union said the 118-day strike would be “officially suspended” at 12.01am on Thursday, and that all picket locations would close.
The breakthrough means Hollywood can ramp up to full production for the first time since May, once union members vote to ratify the deal in the coming weeks.
The union had fought for increased base pay for residuals, and guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence in film and television, concerns shared by writers who fought for similar protections in their contract.
Sag-Aftra began its strike in July with top stars heading to picket lines from Los Angeles to New York, and offering their support. George Clooney called it “an inflection point in our industry”, and said change was necessary for the “industry to survive”.
The resolution of the writers’ strike in September left union leaders feeling optimistic, and talks with the studios resumed in early October for the first time since their work stoppage. The studios walked away from negotiations amid a dispute over the use of AI and streaming residuals, arguing the actors’ demands were unreasonable, but came back to the negotiating table.
In a contract valued at over one billion dollars, 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,... pic.twitter.com/lQe6snkQsY
— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) November 9, 2023
While the full details of the agreement were not immediately released, local news outlets reported that the actors had scored important wins, including on new compensation for shows that appear on streaming services, gains in health insurance, and new rules for the use of AI technology to replicate actors’ images and likenesses.
In its statement, the union said the deal also included “compensation increases for background performers, and critical contract provisions protecting diverse communities”.
Sag-Aftra said the details of the deal would be made public after a meeting on Friday, where board members will review the contract.
In late-stage negotiations over the weekend, the Netflix CEO, Ted Sarandos, told union leadership, “We didn’t just come toward you, we came all the way to you,” Deadline reported.
The deals won by the actors’ and writers’ unions this fall “represent a capitulation by Hollywood’s biggest companies”, the New York Times reported, and a stark reversal for the studio bosses who thought the unions would be “relatively compliant”.
The AMPTP said in its statement it was “pleased to have reached a tentative agreement and looks forward to the industry resuming the work of telling great stories”.
With the strike causing film and TV productions to grind to a halt, affecting the awards season and taking a financial and mental toll on working actors, the parties had faced growing pressure to come to a resolution.
The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, said in a statement she was “grateful” that the parties had reached a deal, since the strike had “impacted millions in Los Angeles and throughout the country”. While those on the picket lines “have been the hardest hit”, Bass said, “there have been ripple effects throughout our entire city”.
Although the writers’ strike had immediate, visible effects for viewers, including the months-long suspension of late-night talkshows and Saturday Night Live, the impact of the actors’ absence was not as immediately apparent. But viewers may continue to feel its effects – delayed release dates and waits for new show seasons – for months or even years.
Now that a deal has been reached, actors could quickly return to movie sets where productions were paused, including Deadpool 3, Gladiator 2 and Wicked. Other movies and shows will restart shooting once returning writers finish scripts.
The end of the strike would also fully free actors to return to red carpets, talkshows and podcasts, as Hollywood’s awards season approaches. The only major awards show directly effected by the strike was the Emmys, which was moved from September to January. Now, the usual fall Oscar campaigns will mobilize.
The end of the strike announcement came hours after Disney’s CEO, Robert Iger, and Warner Bros Discovery’s CEO, David Zaslav, reported their latest earning statements. Both executives said they hoped the strike would be resolved soon.
Disney’s shares rose based on its report, which said its net income jumped 63% to $264m in the quarter that ended on 30 September, up from $162m a year earlier.
Warner Bros Discovery reported losses and saw its shares fall 19% on Wednesday.
On an earnings call ahead of the deal announcement, Zaslav said the studio’s last offer to Sag-Aftra “met virtually all of the union’s goals and includes the highest wage increase in 40 years”.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed reporting
