New York CNN –
Hollywood actors have reached a tentative agreement with major film and television studios to end their historic strike, the actors’ union announced Wednesday. The strike shut down production across the industry for nearly four months and raised existential questions about the future of the entertainment industry.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios, had been negotiating with the union on and off throughout the year to reach an agreement. Both the AMPTP and the actors praised the deal.
Union President Fran Drescher called the agreement “historic” and the studios said the agreement was “a new paradigm” for Hollywood, television and actors.
“We did it!!!! The billion dollar deal! 3X the last contract! New ground was broken everywhere! Tell the Aftra members that they stuck with this historic deal and persevered!” Drescher posted on Instagram on Wednesday .
The strike will officially end at midnight, the union said in a statement, ending one of the longest and most destructive strikes in Hollywood history that brought the industry to a standstill.
“The AMPTP is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement and looks forward to the industry getting back to its work of telling great stories,” the studios said in a statement.
Terms of the agreement, which must still be ratified by union members before it can take effect, were not immediately disclosed. The union said it would not disclose them until the union board reviewed the deal.
But in a statement to members, the union described the scale of the multi-billion dollar deal as “extraordinary.” These include significant minimum wage increases, AI protections and a streaming participation bonus, as well as better benefits.
“We have entered into a contract that enables SAG-AFTRA members of all categories to build sustainable careers,” the union told members.
The studios said in their statement that the actors “will receive the largest contractual gains in the union’s history, including the largest minimum wage increase in the last forty years; a new residual for streaming programs; comprehensive consent and compensation protection when using artificial intelligence; and significant contract increases for items across the board.”
Drescher thanked the AMPTP “for listening to us and experiencing this moment.”
Actors represented by SAG-AFTRA will return to work after walking off set July 14, joining the writers’ guild in a historic double strike against the studios – the first time in recent memory that writers and actors have struck simultaneously than 60 years.
Although the writers’ strike was resolved in September, production remained closed as the actors continued to strike and negotiate their contract. At the center of both confrontations is the rise of artificial intelligence, which threatens to turn the entire entertainment industry on its head.
Ratification of the agreement could face challenges. An online petition signed by more than 5,000 members recently called on the union to take a hard line in negotiating a final agreement, saying it would not agree to an agreement that did not meet the demands made at the start of the strike.
“We have not come all this way to give in,” the letter said. “We did not spend months without work, without pay and on picket lines only to give up everything we fought for. We cannot and will not accept a treaty that ignores the vital and existential problems that we all need to solve.”
A deal didn’t come about easily – or quickly.
After several attempts, the striking actors resumed negotiations with the producers on October 2nd after a long absence from the negotiating table. The announcement to resume talks came a day after leaders of the Writers Guild of America voted to allow their members to return to work following a tentative agreement on Sept. 24 between union negotiators and Hollywood’s studios and streaming companies. services had been achieved.
But the actors’ contract negotiations didn’t last long, collapsing on October 11 before resuming later that month.
At the end of October, it seemed as if the actors’ strike was nearing its end. CNN reported that SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP made significant progress in negotiating sessions and reached preliminary agreements on key components of a potential deal.
Last weekend, the studios announced that they had submitted their “last, best and final offer” to the union. However, in a statement to its members, the union said there were several “key points” that the two sides could not yet agree on, such as the use of AI.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Wednesday she welcomed the resolution to the strike.
“I am grateful that a fair agreement has been reached between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP after more than 100 days of strike that affected millions in Los Angeles and across the country,” Bass said. “Those on the phone were the most affected during this time and there was an impact across the city.”
Hollywood’s most famous stars were eager to get back on set. George Clooney, Tyler Perry and other high-profile actors offered to pay millions more in union dues to help end the actors’ strike, a source familiar with the proposal previously told CNN.
The SAG-AFTRA deal follows the agreement with the Writers Guild, whose strike ended after 148 days. The WGA deal increased pressure on SAG-AFTRA to reach an agreement along the same lines. A little over two months after the Writers Guild strike, SAG-AFTRA joined the strike line.
Her contract, which expires in May 2026, includes salary increases, better benefits, protections against studios’ use of artificial intelligence, streaming compensation guarantees, longer employment terms and other benefits.
“We are pleased to see SAG-AFTRA members win a contract that creates new protections for artists and gives them a greater share of the immense value they create,” the WGA said in a statement Wednesday.
SAG-AFTRA’s demands were similar to those of the WGA, particularly regarding artificial intelligence and residual payments from streaming services for their work. The WGA’s ratified contract included assurances that AI may not write or rewrite literary materials and that AI-generated materials must be disclosed to authors. Both actors and writers believe that AI poses an existential threat to their livelihoods.
A key sticking point in the negotiations was SAG-AFTRA’s demand for an 11% wage increase in the first year of the proposed contract term, while the studios had only agreed to a 5% wage increase.
The work of many authors was immediately resumed. The biggest late-night hosts — Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Seth Meyers — quickly returned to the air after the writers’ strike ended. However, during the actors’ strike, Hollywood actors did not appear on their shows to promote their films.
The Hollywood strikes were costly, with a nationwide economic impact of at least $5 billion, according to economists. The impact goes beyond production; Affected include local businesses and restaurants, as well as makeup artists and janitors.