End of the soap opera: After months of strike, Hollywood actors ratified the agreement with the studios, putting an end to their movement and marking the “return to strength” of a paralyzed industry.
The SAG-AFTRA union announced Tuesday that 78% of its members who voted on the agreement approved this hard-negotiated, multi-year contract.
The formation said 38% of its 160,000 members voted. A simple majority was required to ratify the agreement.
Jonathan Handel, an entertainment attorney, said a vote between 75 and 85 percent in favor of ratification was “a realistic expectation.”
The agreement, concluded after 118 days of strike, includes in particular a significant increase in minimum salaries and a bonus system for actors who star in a film or series that is successful during streaming.
It also provides more than $1 billion in compensation and benefits for actors.
“This is a golden age for SAG-AFTRA and our union has never been stronger,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement.
“It’s D-Day,” predicted Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA.
“This is a billion-dollar deal that includes a lot of very important advances in areas like AI, minimums and streaming money,” he recalled. “It’s an agreement I’m very proud of.”
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents Netflix Inc., Walt Disney and other studios, welcomed the ratification of this new collective bargaining agreement.
“With this vote, the industry and its jobs can get back on track,” praised the AMPTP in a press release.
AI framework
Although ratification was perceived as a formality, it caused some nervousness in the industry as certain contractual terms caused significant opposition from stakeholders, particularly in the AI space.
“The treaty is shit,” Michael Vaccaro, who is among dozens of actors who have publicly opposed ratification, said before the vote.
“I voted against it. And I am fully prepared to continue the strike. Absolutely, 100%,” the actor assured AFP. “We gain nothing by signing this contract. We have a lot to gain from resuming the strike.”
The agreement is intended to create protective measures against the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for the first time.
Cast members fear they will soon be replaced by fully digital “actors,” created by artificial intelligence by stitching together body parts from many different people from film archives.
The contract doesn’t prevent studios from using AI, but it does contain a clause requiring them to notify the union whenever the technology is used.
SAG-AFTRA would then have the right to negotiate compensation on behalf of the affected actors, even if they are difficult to identify, according to critics.
Opponents of ratification also believed that the viewership required to pay a bonus associated with streaming was too high, which would only benefit the best players.