The strike will end on Thursday, thanks to the obtaining of a new three-year collective agreement for the actors, the value of which is “estimated at more than a billion dollars”, explained the organization in a press release.
“Eeeeeeet….Action!” Actors and major Hollywood studios reached an agreement on Wednesday, November 8, to end the strike which has paralyzed the production of films and series in the United States for 118 days. The actors’ union SAG-AFTRA will publish the details in a few days, but assures that this agreement has “extraordinary scope”. This new collective agreement, put in place for three years, notably includes a significant increase in minimum wages, safeguards in terms of artificial intelligence and establishes “for the first time” a bonus system for streaming rebroadcasts, the organization explained in a press release.
For the stars and extras to return to the set and allow filming to resume, the 160,000 actors, dancers and other stunt members of SAG-AFTRA must still approve their new collective agreement by a vote. A step widely seen as a formality.
A sector paralyzed since July
In total, the paralysis of the cinema sector across the Atlantic in recent months has cost the American economy at least six billion dollars, according to recent assessments by economists. Besides a minority of celebrities, most actors without filming found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet, sometimes having to fall back on other jobs.
The studios, for their part, showed gaping holes in their release schedules for next year and beyond, with the postponement in particular of major productions, such as the second part of the saga Dune or the series Stranger Things.
Negotiations with management have taken place almost daily over the past two weeks, often with the CEOs of Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros, and Universal in person. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represented them in the negotiations, described the agreement as “new paradigm” for the sector. Employers “looks forward to the industry getting back to work telling big stories”she explained in a press release.
Salaries, streaming, artificial intelligence…
According to the specialist press, the compromise results in an increase in the minimum wage of around 8% compared to the previous three-year agreement. On the streaming side, a bonus system for actors playing in successful series or films will be put in place.
The supervision of artificial intelligence was another major point of tension, particularly in the final stretch of the negotiations. Actors feared that studios would use this technology to clone their voices and images for reuse in perpetuity, without compensation or consent. In recent days, the two parties have notably fought over the conditions surrounding the studios’ rights to the image of star actors after their death.