Hollywood Actors Reach Tentative Four-Year Pact With Studios, Averting Strike

LOS ANGELES (AP): Board members of the union representing film and television actors are scheduled this week to examine a tentative contract reached with major studios and streaming companies.

The agreement, announced on Saturday, must still receive approval from the board of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists before going to the wider membership for a ratification vote. Should both steps proceed as anticipated, Hollywood will sidestep a replay of the 2023 actors' and writers' walkouts that rattled the entertainment business. This round of talks proceeded without major friction, and the prospect of another strike never seemed genuinely close.

The tentative pact was unveiled in a joint statement from SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the body representing Hollywood's leading studios, streaming platforms and production firms.

According to the statement, specific terms will not be disclosed publicly until the union's board has had time to study them.

A source familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press that the contract runs for four years rather than the customary three. The source requested anonymity, not being cleared to speak on the record.

High on the union's list heading into bargaining was strengthening safeguards around artificial intelligence, including the creation of synthetic performers and the digital recreation of real actors' likenesses. Performers also pushed for better long-term compensation for repeat broadcasts of programmes, the payments known in the trade as residuals.

Speaking with the AP just before negotiations got under way, actor and SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin said the union was determined to defend the ground won during the strike.

"There is no going back," he said.

Astin added that the studios were "sending signals of wanting stability, of wanting to work as partners".

The studio side also expressed measured optimism that an equitable agreement could be struck.

Reaching the deal took roughly six weeks of negotiation. Talks opened on February 9 but were paused so studios could conduct separate bargaining with writers, who likewise settled on a four-year contract in place of their typical three-year terms.

The existing SAG-AFTRA agreement is due to lapse on June 30. Even in calmer years, contract negotiations frequently push right up against, or beyond, the deadline.

With the actors' talks now wrapped up, AMPTP representatives can turn to discussions with the Directors Guild, marking the first such negotiation under the guild's new president, Christopher Nolan. Those talks are scheduled to start on May 11.