After nearly four months, it seems like SAG-AFTRA has tentatively approved a three-year contract with major filming studios, officially ending the strike.
While not all the details of the contract have been released, we have been told that the contract includes pay increases, AI regulations, higher caps on both health and pension funds, background performer “compensation bumps”, a “streaming participation bonus”, and “critical contract provisions protecting diverse communities.” Altogether valued at over $1 billion. (R18,5 billion)
The SAG-AFTRA board will see this new contract on Friday and will approve it or not, whether they think it’s acceptable.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) released a statement on the contract saying:
“Today’s tentative agreement represents a new paradigm. It gives SAG-AFTRA the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union, including the largest increase in minimum wages in the last forty years; a brand new residual for streaming programs; extensive consent and compensation protections in the use of artificial intelligence; and sizable contract increases on items across the board. The AMPTP is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement and looks forward to the industry resuming the work of telling great stories.”
While things do look optimistic from this stage, there is still a ratification vote that needs to be held. It’s been estimated that the strikes from SAG-AFTRA and WGA have cost the state of California almost $6 billion in revenue (R111 billion).