
The nearly four-month-old actors' strike has reached
a tentative three-year agreement between the actors' union, SAG-AFTRA and the major TV/movie studios with gains made in minimum pay for members and improvement in residual payments for streaming TV
shows and movies.
The strike officially ended at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday for 160,000 actors and performers. The actors' walkout began on July 14, joining forces with the
writers who had been on strike since May 2.
Actors still need to vote on the agreement to finalize the deal.
On Saturday, the
studios -- through their negotiating group Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers -- presented to SAG-AFTRA their “last, best and final offer”, which union officials then
spent the next several days making changes in the language.
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The deal also includes improved contributions to the union's health and pension plans.
The agreement comes less than a month after the Writer’s Guild members approved their own agreement with the studios.
Writers also looked to raise
their fees for streaming programs, as well as protections against artificial intelligence efforts, which could replace their work.
Under its new deal, the writers will
get success-based streaming TV bonuses, minimum rate increases, and staffing minimums.
Both strikes caused major disruption for the start of the fall TV season in
September with many popular prime-time scripted TV shows out of production. The six-month combined writers'-actors' strike has been estimated to have cost the industry $6.5 billion, especially with
regard to the Southern California economy.
It also had an effect on summer’s TV upfront advertising market -- already suffering from general marketplace
weakness since the fourth quarter of 2022. This summer’s upfront selling period witnessed rare pricing declines for scripted entertainment of around 1% to 3%.
TV
networks had hoped the strikes would end in early fall with the hopes of re-starting the production process at that time. That would mean they could have new scripted TV episodes ready to air around
January/February 2024.