A new three-year labour deal between Hollywood’s actors and its film and TV studios could be made official within days, but not without vocal criticism that has stoked expectations of a close ratification vote.
Members of the SAG-AFTRA union, which represents more than 150,000 film and television performers, have been voting on the tentative deal for the past several weeks, with voting set to end on Tuesday.
The 129-page agreement was released in full just after Thanksgiving – the culmination of a historic 118-day strike that brought Hollywood to a virtual standstill earlier this year, disrupting production on everything from blockbuster movies to network series and streaming shows.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA), which represents Hollywood screenwriters, overwhelmingly ratified its contract in October after a 148-day strike. The Directors Guild of America approved its contract by a wide margin in June without a strike.
The other two unions had similar demands to SAG-AFTRA, including stricter rules limiting the use of artificial intelligence in media production, higher base pay and a larger share of streaming profits. Until this year, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA hadn’t held simultaneous strikes since 1960.
The actors’ union’s national board, a group of more than 70 people, approved the deal on 10 November with more than 86% in favour. But a vocal handful of critics on the board publicly denounced it.
SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said Saturday there was “no better alternative than to move forward with this agreement”.
“Is it perfect? No. But it’s groundbreaking, and it’s a deal that achieves what our members need, with very significant economic gains, more than the last three negotiations combined, and something to build on with AI,” Crabtree-Ireland said. “We will be back in 2 ½ years.”
In a statement after the vote, the executive said the package, “worth more than a billion dollars in new funding for wages and benefits, is a landmark achievement for the union”.
“The agreement provides meaningful protections around the use of artificial intelligence, including informed consent and compensation for the creation and use of digital replicas of our members, living and deceased, whether created on set or licensed for use,” it said.
But as details of the tentative agreement emerged, the hashtag #SAGAFTRAvoteNO began to make its way around social media, with some performers highlighting what they saw as insufficient protections around AI.
Alex Plank, an actor and SAG-AFTRA member, called the AI provisions “disappointing” and said he had hoped for strict prohibitions on actors’ likenesses being used to train AI models. Under the proposed contract, he said, “producers are allowed to create a synthetic performer and only have to notify SAG and negotiate with the union over its use,” a situation he said amounted to “allowing synthetic performers to compete with human performers.
Plank also criticised some of the compensation provisions. “I don’t think what we got is necessarily going to help the average actor’s salary,” he said, describing the criteria for receiving streaming residuals – a form of royalty – as too narrow.
Three other union members, who spoke to NBC News anonymously for fear of professional repercussions, had a range of views on the labour deal.
“I think the vote will be close,” one speculated, citing “an overwhelming number of people voting no.”
Another union member – who served on the negotiating committee – had more praise for SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher and the terms of the agreement.
“This is hands down the best deal we’ve ever gotten, and it’s because of the tireless work of Fran and the negotiating committee,” the person said. “We have come a long way and everyone will benefit.”
Drescher herself has hit back at critics of the tentative deal.
“Unfortunately, there have been some naysayers who have taken advantage of our momentum,” she reportedly told members at a Zoom meeting last month, according to Variety.
A third source, a SAG-AFTRA strike captain, said that a failure to ratify the new contract would be unlikely to trigger another strike. The union and the studios “would probably just work things out and then take the vote again,” they said.
Few SAG-AFTRA members have any appetite for another punishing picket line after the one that recently ended wreaked havoc on many members’ finances. For months, tens of thousands went without pay as union negotiators and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (which represents Comcast, owner of NBCUniversal) haggled over issues such as minimum wages and residuals in the streaming era.
The talks at times involved some of Hollywood’s most powerful CEOs, including Disney’s Bob Iger, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav and NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley.
Linda Powell, executive vice president of SAG-AFTRA, said Saturday that the debate over the tentative agreement was healthy.
“The reason we’ve been able to accomplish as much as we have is because of the work our members have done and the fact that they’ve been on strike for 118 days,” she said. “The commitment you’re seeing around the deal itself is a natural result of so many of us being involved for so long.”
She said she’d be happy if the tentative deal was approved by even 51%.
“I think people are turning the corner, and I think a lot of people have been waiting to vote to educate themselves further,” she said. “It’s a healthy process.”