Getty
Following today’s majority vote of the SAG-AFTRA National Board to approve the tentative agreement reached earlier this week with studio CEOs and the AMPTP, the actors’ guild has released additional details of the deal.
As they have stated repeatedly over the past two days since reaching an agreement with studios to end the 118-day strike, the guild said Friday that “the total package” is “worth more than a billion dollars in new wages and funding.” of performance plans”. .” Two days after the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reached their tentative agreement, they released additional compensation information about the deal on Friday, several hours after the SAG-AFTRA National Board 86% voted in favor.
An 80-page summary of the full agreement, which has not yet been released, will, I understand, go out to eligible Guild members on November 13th. Ratification voting on the agreement begins Nov. 14 and runs through the first week of December for the 160,000-member guild.
SAG-AFTRA called the tentative agreement tonight “a groundbreaking achievement for the union,” noting the “significant protections” and consent rights related to AI that have been a major sticking point in talks with studios. Unlike today’s press conference with SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, Friday’s letter from the guild did not provide specific numbers for the much-touted “creating a new source of compensation for artists working in streaming.” .
While the campaign to win member votes was well underway, the guild also had a lot to say on Friday about wage increases, staffing guidelines, relocation allowances and contribution caps for health and pension funds. In full pitch mode, some of this was brought up at today’s post-board vote press conference, although not in as much detail – you can see it below:
The agreement includes an unprecedented wage pattern with two wage increases in the first year of the agreement – 7% upon ratification and a further 4% increase from July 2024, for a total increase of 11.28% in the first year. From July 2025 there will be a further increase of 3.5%. This package breaks the so-called “industry pattern”.
Background actor salaries will increase by 11% effective November 12, 2023, an additional 4% effective July 1, 2024, and an additional 3.5% effective July 1, 2025. And in a monumental breakthrough, for the first time ever, the number of positions covered in the West Coast zones will match those in the East Coast zones. This will add almost 11,000 new covered background work days annually.
An increase in the contribution cap for one-hour productions by almost 43% and an increase in the contribution cap for half-hour productions by almost 67% will result in higher contributions to the health and pension funds and help the artists working on these shows continue to be entitled to benefits have.
The union managed to create a new compensation system for artists working in the streaming sector. It offers a significant bonus on top of the existing residual structures and makes working in streaming more sustainable for middle-class players. The majority of this compensation is paid to actors in shows that meet certain audience requirements. The remaining money will be distributed to other players working on these streaming platforms through a new, co-managed distribution fund. This ensures better compensation and sustainability for a broader range of actors who contribute to the success of these platforms. The agreement also provides for fixed residual salaries for stunt coordinators working on television and new media productions.
The treaty made important progress in the areas of hair and makeup equity, sharing of aggregated diversity statistics, elimination of inappropriate wigs and makeup, gender-neutral language, access to gender-affirming care, and translation services. It also provides more sexual harassment protections for performers, including the use of intimacy coordinators in scenes with nudity and simulated sex or upon request, as well as additional background protections.
Additional benefits include setting minimum requirements by applying television conditions to high-budget AVOD programming.
Sensible safeguards have been put in place for the casting process, including provisions requiring breakdowns, pages and/or scripts to be provided at least 48 hours prior to the submission deadline (excluding weekends and holidays). For minors this increases to 72 hours. Talent may not be required to perform more than eight (8) industry standard pages for an initial self-recording or twelve (12) industry standard pages for a second or subsequent callback. In addition, if memorization is required, performers are entitled to compensation. And performers cannot be required to appear nude or wear clothing more revealing than a swimsuit that might be worn at a public swimming pool. Producers must also provide the opportunity to conduct virtual or in-person interviews on a first-come, first-served basis and make accommodations for artists with disabilities, veteran artists and minors.
Significant improvements have also been made to relocation allowances for series cast members, covering $5,000 per month for up to six months with no cap on the number of seasons. Based on employment patterns, this represents an effective increase in relocation payments of 153%.
Looking at these raises, the cumulative total of about 14.8% is better than the 13% the WGA received in its deal a few months ago. But the rate of increase and the two bumps through July 2024 have more to do with the fact that the contact between SAG and AFTRA was completed so late in 2023 – perhaps not breaking industry pattern as much as the guild claims.
SAG-AFTRA’s criteria for its streaming bonus fund are also similar to the WGA’s deal. Both appear to be used when streaming series and films “that are viewed by 20% or more of the service’s domestic subscribers in the first 90 days after release,” to quote the WGA agreement.
Stating that “our projections need to be subjected to some sort of stress test,” Crabtree-Ireland confirmed in the press on Friday that the total payout to guild members from the streaming bonus fund over the life of the new contract will be approximately $120 million 40 million dollars per year. In establishing a new “pocket” for the cast, as Drescher said, and introducing the idea into future talks, $120 million is far less than the $500 million SAG-AFTRA offered right at the start of talks as sales share demands.
Despite all this, Drescher himself admitted that the criteria of the new compensation streams for artists, which do not even begin to flow unless a show is seen by 20% of a network’s subscriber base, are only for the casting of shows in the “thimble value.” “ will be important. The recently re-elected SAG-AFTRA chief sought to deflect potential criticism of the $120 million streaming bonus fund, which may have led to 14% of the guild’s national board voting against the contract ahead of today’s much-delayed news conference, and said she hopes to achieve a 20% decrease in the next contract negotiations, which will begin before this contract expires on June 30, 2026, if it is ratified.
Getty
Speaking to Deadline after Friday’s press conference, Drescher also gave some hints about what she’s preparing for negotiations with studios in 2026 and “planning our game and playing our game.”
At today’s press conference, both Guild President Drescher and negotiator Crabtree-Ireland praised the deal for destroying model negotiations and being an “industry game-changer”. This is the same argumentative language used in the material SAG-AFTRA sent out tonight. Whether this is the case overall or whether the SAG-AFTRA deal reveals many of the hallmarks of what the DGA and the long-standing WGA achieved in June and September of this year, respectively, remains to be seen as we take a look at the full summary and the fine print.
Stay tuned