US actors’ union SAG-AFTRA has revealed the details of the deal it struck last week with Hollywood studios to bring an end to its 118-day strike.
The actor’s union reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday with the major film and television studios, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, to end its historic strike.
Eighty-six percent of the union’s national board voted to approve the agreement that the negotiating committee reached with the AMPTP, said SAG-AFTRA. The deal will now go to the union’s members for ratification.
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher described it as a “historic $1 billion plus dollar deal with the most progressive AI protections ever written.”
The union said the deal:
- provides meaningful protections around the use of artificial intelligence, including informed consent and compensation for the creation and use of digital replicas of members, living and deceased, whether created on set or licensed for use.
- includes two wage increases in the first year of the contract – 7% upon ratification, and another 4% increase effective July 2024, making a compounded first year increase of 11.28%. There will be another 3.5% increase effective July 2025.
- increases wages for background actors by 11% effective November 12, 2023, and then by an additional 4% effective July 1, 2024 and by another 3.5% effective July 1, 2025.
- includes a new compensation stream for performers working in streaming. It provides a substantial bonus on top of existing residuals structures making work in streaming more sustainable for middle class actors.
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