SAG-AFTRA Actor’s Stike Officially Ends As “Tentative Agreement” Reached
Late last night, news landed that the SAG-AFTRA Strike was officially over, as the actor’s union and Hollywood’s Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) finally came to a “Tentative Agreement” after 118 days, making it the longest movie and television strike in the union’s 90-year history.
It’s been a long, but unfortunately, necessary road for SAG-AFTRA to get to this point. With the rise of the various streaming services over the past few years and the threat of AI to actors’ livelihoods, the entire contract required a drastic overhaul to offer better protections and compensation to every jobbing actor in the union.
Exact details of the agreement will not be released until the tentative agreement is reviewed by the SAG-AFTRA National Board. However, SAG-AFTRA has said “In a contract valued at over one billion dollars, we have achieved a deal of extraordinary scope that includes “above-pattern” minimum compensation increases, unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI, and for the first time establishes a streaming participation bonus. Our Pension & Health caps have been substantially raised, which will bring much-needed value to our plans. In addition, the deal includes numerous improvements for multiple categories including outsize compensation increases for background performers, and critical contract provisions protecting diverse communities.”
From here, the SAG-AFTRA board are expected to sign off on the tentative deal, which will then be put to the 160k members of the union for a vote to ratify the new agreement. However, with the strike officially ending at midnight last night, we could very well see actors back at work before the vote occurs, which would mirror the process taken by the WGA when their strike ended.
In terms of US scripted TV production, the “Fall” season (i.e. Sept-Dec 2023) has been pretty much written off at this point. However, the strike ending now, does mean there is a good possibility of many shows managing to return for half-seasons in the new year. So whilst you’re likely not going to get full 22-episode seasons of network shows like ‘NCIS’, ‘The Rookie’, the ‘FBI’ and ‘Chicago’ series, there is a good chance we will have 13-episode seasons landing in early 2024.
We will, of course, be keeping you up-to-date will all the latest USA and UK TV premiere dates on our US TV Air Dates and UK TV Premiere Dates pages on the site. If you want to keep track of any show in the UK, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.
