2023 Hollywood Strikes Officially Over Following New Contract Ratification By SAG-AFTRA Members

The 2023 Hollywood strikes officially ended on Wednesday following the ratification of the new SAG-AFTRA contract that was tentatively agreed upon last month.

The SAG-AFTRA strike, which started on July 14th, lasted nearly four months over a total of 118 days. Negotiations over better residual fees for streaming service programs, overall better pay, and strict regulation on the use of artificial intelligence had been slow to progress.

A new agreement with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) earlier this year, which ended the 146-day long WGA strike, had brought new hope for a quick end to the actors strike in October, with many experts saying that it could only take a week or so to settle. Talks officially began again on October 6th. For the next month, negotiations started, ended, then restarted over multiple issues, including the union pushing for a $1 fee per streaming subscriber to go to SAG-AFTRA to pay out to union members on the production.

However, a compromise was slowly hammered out, with both sides reaching a tentative agreement on November 9th. Under the agreement, raises between 7%-11% would be given to all actors over the next three years, with a $40 million residual bonus being agreed to for all actors who series of films on streaming services become successful. Any use of AI where a living or dead performer is used must get consent to appear as well as compensation for it being used. Finally, new hairstyle and makeup requirements were added to productions, as were the inclusion of intimacy coordinators being required for any scene involving sex or nudity.

While neither the studios or SAG-AFTRA said that the deal was what they were hoping for, both sides nonetheless agreed to it.

“The deal isn’t perfect, but it has a lot of really important gains,” said SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) added in a statement last month that “Today’s tentative agreement represents a new paradigm. It gives SAG-AFTRA the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union, including the largest increase in minimum wages in the last forty years; a brand new residual for streaming programs; extensive consent and compensation protections in the use of artificial intelligence; and sizable contract increases on items across the board. The AMPTP is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement and looks forward to the industry resuming the work of telling great stories.”

However, despite the agreement, there were lingering concerns that the union could reject the agreement, as they had not gained everything they had wanted from a compromise deal. There was also worry over a low voter turnout on Tuesday for votes on the matter nationwide.

While a low turnout by members was recorded on Tuesday, with only 38.15% of all SAG-AFTRA members attending the vote, a quorum was nonetheless reached, with over 78% voting to approve the new contract.

“By ratifying this contract, members have made it clear that they’re eager to use their unity to lay the groundwork for a better industry, improving the lives of those working in their profession,” added Crabtree-Ireland in a statement.

Union experts said that while this ended major strikes in Hollywood for now, with the new SAG-AFTRA contract coming up next in 2026, many more industry contracts will be coming up next year, including IATSE, which could mean more long-lasting industry strife.

“SAG-AFTRA and the WGA were just the two this year in the entertainment industry,” said Theresa Stevenson, an arbitrator in Michigan who has helped settled union disputes and strikes in the past. “Next year you have a bunch more others that can potentially delay productions. And that’s not getting into further union action nationwide, including the UAW trying to unionize non-American companies with factories in the US, as well as Tesla, and other industries looking at unionization. 2023 was big, but next year looks like a continuation of this year.”

IATSE’s contract is due to expire in November 2024.