Claire Pham | News Editor
December 7, 2023
After a historic 118-day strike, SAG-AFTRA made a tentative deal with The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers which is the group that negotiates on behalf of the studios on November 9th. This deal was then ratified on December 5th. The contract was approved with 78% voting in favor of the deal. American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, better known as SAG-AFTRA, represents over 160,000 actors. On July 14, actors decided to go on strike alongside the writers who successfully ended their strike on September 27. This left Hollywood empty for months. Junior Avery Kearl said “with so many actors joining in on the strike I had to resort back to rewatching older shows on Netflix.”
Over the past three months, Hollywood’s biggest actors like Jack Black, Nina Dobrev, Hillary Duff, and many others have joined in on the strike. Two major reasons finally led to actors going on strike. First, there was compensation, as the industry shifted toward streaming services money that the actors earned in their past projects was negatively affected. Actors that have been seen on popular shows have watched their income plummet in recent years. The second issue that stemmed from this strike was the concern over artificial intelligence being used to substitute an actor’s authentic performance in the future.
The new three-year contract is set from November 9 2023 and expires June 30, 2026. The deal holds more than 1 billion in new compensation, benefits plan funding, and ensures that sets have proper hair and makeup for all performers. To protect actors against AI, the deal requires compensation and consent guardrails to protect performers from generative AI technology. Along with a 7% increase in minimum rates during the first year. There will also be an additional bonus that streaming services will pay shows that reach a high level of success, the bonuses will be about 40 million per year. Senior Addie Flynn claims “it takes lots of time for actors to work their way up so giving up and coming actors a pay grade is deserved”.
This is a historic victory for all working performers in the film industry. Hopefully Hollywood kicks off where they left off for the upcoming year.
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