Hollywood actors union board approves deal ending strike

Board members of the Hollywood actors’ union voted Friday to approve the deal with the studios, ending it nearly four months later; The union leadership touted gains made over weeks of methodical negotiations.

Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland announced at an afternoon press conference that the tentative agreement was approved with 86% of the vote.

The three-year contract agreement will now be put to a vote by union members, who learned what they gained by spending the summer and early fall on picket lines instead of on movie and television sets. This voting starts on Tuesday and continues until December.

Crabtree-Ireland said the deal would “make the film industry sustainable as a profession for working-class artists” and protect “tens of thousands of jobs”.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said studios believe they can outlast actors.

“From July 14th to October 3rd, we did not hear from AMPTP. What were they doing? Were they trying to throw us out?” said. “Yes honey, I quit smoking a long time ago.”

Crabtree-Ireland and Drescher did not elaborate on who did not approve the deal and what issues prevented them from voting yes. The board vote was predominant, so it’s not immediately clear how many people voted against the approval.

Overall, the happy scene at SAG-AFTRA’s Los Angeles headquarters was as different as it could be from the defiant, angry tone of the news conference held in the same room in July, when guild leaders announced that actors would join writers in a shockingly historic strike. Industry.

The successful vote by the board, whose members include actors Billy Porter, Jennifer Beals, Sean Astin and Sharon Stone, was expected because many of the same people were on the committee that negotiated the deal. And in some ways the drama faded, with union leaders declaring the strike over on Wednesday rather than waiting for approval as soon as a tentative agreement was reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

But if such a thing exists, it was still an important step in getting things back to normal in Hollywood.

Actors don’t need to wait for approval to act again, Crabtree-Ireland said, “in fact, some of them have already taken action.”

Contractual provisions surrounding control of artificial intelligence were among the final sticking points in the agreement.

“AI was a deal breaker,” Drescher said. “If we haven’t received that package, what are we doing to protect our members?”

Here’s a look at those and other contract wins that union leaders outlined Friday. A more detailed look at the terms will come next week, they said.

Productions must obtain the informed consent of actors whose digital copies are used. This means there will be a fairly specific description of how a player’s image will be used; A vague, boilerplate sentence will not suffice. This includes the consent of background actors used for crowd scenes and similar simulations.

The guild said that when AI is used for a film or series that an actor is currently working on, he or she will receive compensation as if his digital likeness had actually done what he did. When an actor, living or dead, is a licensed image from a program in which he or she is not otherwise performing, licensees have the right to negotiate a price.

In a hard-won ruling on the final day of negotiations, SAG-AFTRA required consent when generative artificial intelligence is used to create a synthetic character from images of several different artists, such as Denzel Washington’s eyes or Margot Robbie’s hair. It must be taken from each person employed and the union must be able to negotiate wages for each.

The agreement includes the creation of a new fund that will pay artists for future viewing of their work on streaming services, in addition to traditional balances paid for the release of films or series. The union wasn’t clear on how much pay that would mean, but Drescher said it was essential to create “a new pocket of revenue.”

The 7 percent general wage increase will take effect immediately, with a further 4 percent increase in July and a further 3.5 percent increase the year after that.

An 11% increase for background actors will be effective immediately; The same 4% and 3.5% increases will apply in future years.

There will also be more money for relocating actors who have to move for roles in TV series.

Productions will be required to hire intimacy coordinators for any scenes that involve nudity or simulated sex. Although this has become an increasingly common practice in recent years, it was not mandatory.

Dancers asked to sing or singers asked to dance will be paid full wages for both skills; rather than production taking it one-on-one when artists do double duty.

Sets must have hair and make-up artists suitable for all performers who need them, and these artists must be able to cater to the actors’ particular ethnicities and appearances.

The deal also includes more protections and funding for self-taped auditions.