Hollywood actors reach agreement with studios to end strike

On Thursday, for the first time in more than six months, neither Hollywood actors nor screenwriters will be on strike.

The long-awaited end to the industry’s stormiest season in decades comes after an agreement was reached Wednesday night to end the nearly four-month strike, the longest strike in the history of film actors and television.

The new three-year contract must be approved by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) board of directors and its members in the coming days. But the union leadership declared that the strike ended at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, putting all parts of production online for the first time since the spring.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, executive director and chief negotiator of SAG-AFTRA, said the progress made on the agreement justified the fight.

“It is an agreement our members can be proud of. I am certainly very proudCrabtree-Ireland told The Associated Press in an interview. “We said we would only accept a fair, equitable and respectful agreement, and that is precisely what this agreement is. So I think our members, as we’re able to release more details, will look at them and say, this is something worth striking for”.

More than 60,000 SAG-AFTRA members went on strike on July 14, joining screenwriters who had left their jobs more than two months earlier. It was the first time the two unions had been on strike together since 1960. The studios and writers reached an agreement that ended their strike on September 26.

The union valued the deal at more than $1 billion. Crabtree-Ireland said the agreement includes increases in minimum wages for actors, a greater share of streaming revenue for artists, increased benefits and protections against the indiscriminate use of artificial intelligence (AI) for the recreation of performances. Details of the terms will not be released until after a meeting Friday in which board members will review the contract.

The AI ​​protections were a sticking point in negotiations that had proceeded methodically, with long pauses for both sides to meet, since they restarted on October 24.

“It’s something that has evolved even while we were in this negotiation process,” Crabtree-Ireland said. “The capabilities of generative AI tools have expanded dramatically. So we’ve really focused on making sure that the protections we negotiated were future-proof or at least future-proof.”

The other negotiating party, the Alliance of Film and Television Producers (AMPTP), said in a statement that the “agreement represents a new paradigm. It gives SAG-AFTRA the largest contract-by-contract profits in the union’s history.” The AMPTP said it “hopes the industry will get back to the work of telling great stories.”

Executives from major entertainment companies, including Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and Universal, were directly involved in the negotiations.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) applauded Wednesday’s agreement. “We are thrilled to see SAG-AFTRA members win a contract that creates new protections for artists and gives them a greater share of the immense value they create,” the union said in a statement. “When workers are united, they win!”

Although the writers’ strike had immediate and palpable effects for viewers, including the months-long suspension of late-night talk shows and “Saturday Night Live,” the impact of the actors’ absence was not immediately evident. But its ripple effects — delayed premiere dates and waits for new seasons of shows — could be felt for months or even years.

Actors should quickly return to the sets of movies where production has been suspended, including “Deadpool 3,” “Gladiator 2” and “Wicked.” Other movies and shows will be rebooted once the writers finish the scripts.

And beyond scripted productions, the end of the strike allows actors to return to red carpets, talk shows and podcasts as Hollywood’s awards season approaches.

“The SAG strike is over!! I can finally say it: watch my documentary Saturday night at 8 on HBO/MAX!” actor and director Albert Brooks said on social media moments after the strike ended. “I couldn’t say a word until now!!”

The only major awards show directly affected by the strike was the Emmys, which were postponed from September to January. Now, the usual fall campaigns for the Oscars will be mobilized.

But any sense of normality in the industry could be temporary. The circumstances that led to the strikes – the shift from traditional broadcast media to streaming and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence – have not slowed down. And the gains made by the strikes may embolden other Hollywood unions, or these same unions, in negotiations that will resume in three years.

Union leaders treated the strike as a watershed moment from the start, as it came amid broader labor struggles in other industries.

“I think there’s a conversation now about big company culture and how it treats everyone at the top and bottom in the name of profit.“SAG-AFTRA president and star of the series “The Nanny,” Fran Drescher, told the AP in August.

The agreement also means the return to sets for thousands of film crew members who were left without work during the strikes. SAG-AFTRA sought to offset its difficulties by allowing sometimes controversial interim agreements to go forward for some smaller productions and by making its strike relief fund available to all industry workers.

“The idea of ​​being able to find out if I still remember how to act is very exciting.”said actor Ely Henry, who has spent the last few months leading protests outside Paramount Pictures as a strike captain. “I’m grateful that so many people are going back to work.”.