The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists reached tentative agreements with major studios on Saturday, averting a repeat of a three-year-old strike.
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The union and the Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance said they would not release details of the agreement until the SAG-AFTRA National Board reviews the agreement.
“SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP have reached a tentative agreement on the terms of a successor agreement to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical Agreement covering motion pictures, primetime scripted dramatic television, streaming content and new media,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement.
The agreement allows SAG-AFTRA’s more than 160,000 members to avoid a repeat of 2023, when both SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America went on strike for four months.
AMPTP represents NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.
Saturday’s agreement comes after the WGA reached a four-year contract with AMPTP last month. Contracts are typically for three years. But in exchange for a fourth year, the WGA received a $321 million infusion into its health fund.
Actor and former SAG presidential candidate Chuck Slavin said Los Angeles’ health care, pensions and artificial intelligence protections are most at risk. He worries that the technology could outweigh the protection guaranteed by the four-year contract.
“Overall, the future is changing rapidly,” Slavin said. “And when it comes to AI, I think we need to protect image similarity. We need to make sure people receive royalties and residual payments for their work. Scanning is a big threat.”
The tentative agreement will be submitted to the SAG-AFTRA National Board of Directors in the coming days for consideration of terms.
