There will not be a second labor strike in the entertainment industry this summer after the actors union and major Hollywood studios agreed on Friday to continue negotiations through mid-July.
The contract between SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which was supposed to expire at midnight, has been extended until July 12.
The accord buys additional time for the parties to negotiate and avoids a work stoppage that would have exacerbated the already present labour turmoil in the Hollywood film industry. On May 2, members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike, effectively shutting down the film and television industries.
In a letter to union leadership this week, A-listers like Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep threatened to strike if they didn’t get a “transformative deal” on better base pay and protections around the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Union negotiators had previously released a video in which they claimed that their discussions had been “extremely productive,” thus the timing of this letter may indicate that an agreement is near.
On Friday, SAG-AFTRA announced that its negotiators had reached an agreement to extend the current contract “in order to exhaust every opportunity to achieve the righteous contract we all demand and deserve.”
They emphasised that the extension shouldn’t be interpreted as a sign of weakness.
The Hollywood writers are on strike over wages, so don’t watch any TV.
In early June, SAG-AFTRA members decided to grant union leaders the ability to launch a strike if negotiations broke down.
The negotiations took place while Hollywood studios were experiencing financial difficulties. After spending billions on programming to entice users, conglomerates are under pressure from Wall Street to turn a profit from their streaming services.
TV ad income has taken a hit due to the rise of streaming services and the subsequent decline of traditional TV audiences.
There has been a significant delay in filming a number of films due to the strike, including Marvel’s “Thunderbolts” and “Blade.” If actors went on strike, any production in progress would have to be shelved.
Union heads for 160,000-strong SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) claim things have changed drastically in the entertainment industry due to the popularity of streaming television and the development of technologies like generative artificial intelligence, which they worry might be used to compose screenplays or create digital performers.
The studios’ negotiating arm, the AMPTP, has been tight-lipped about its discussions with SAG-AFTRA. The parties said in a joint statement on Friday that they would continue negotiations but would not comment further on the talks to the media.
The AMPTP claimed it had offered “generous” salary increases to the writers but was unable to meet their other demands. Since the writers’ strike began on May 2, there have been no talks between the studios and the WGA.
Catering companies, prop houses, and other small businesses that rely heavily on Hollywood productions are feeling the effects of the WGA strike. It is projected that California lost $2.1 billion due to the last writers’ strike in 2007 and 2008.
