SAG-AFTRA Negotiators Approve Deal With Studios - Strike Set To End

Just over a month after the Writers Guild of America's strike came to an end upon reaching a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists' strike is wrapping up as well. As reported by Variety on November 8, SAG-AFTRA negotiators have given a thumbs up to a tentative agreement with the AMPTP that will end their historic strike, which began way back on July 14. The union announced that their strike will officially come to a close at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, November 9.

At the time of publication, the fine details of the SAG-AFTRA-AMPTP deal have yet to come to light, though it's expected that such information will reach the public on Friday, November 10. It's said that within the agreement are protections against the use of artificial intelligence as well as sizeable pay increases for union members. While the SAG-AFTRA strike may be coming to a close and those in it can return to work, the deal still needs to be voted on and ratified by SAG-AFTRA members — a process that can potentially take longer than a week.

As one could imagine, this historic moment was preceded by an especially hectic few days of back and forth between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP.

Though negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP were all over the place since the former's strike began, the days leading up to the two parties reaching a deal were particularly wild. Following a two-week standstill, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP resumed communication on October 24. According to Variety, the AMPTP sent out its "best" offer on Friday, November 3, with the big-ticket item being a bonus for those appearing in the most-watched streaming shows. However, this fell short of SAG-AFTRA's goal for its members to receive shares of profits from each streaming service. 

Thus, the SAG-AFTRA team concluded the weekend by putting together a response. After this 12-hour Sunday meeting, it came to light on Monday that SAG-AFTRA members felt those in the AMPTP were still too far away on several key topics. In response, the AMPTP made adjustments to its wording on the subject of A.I., leading to a 10-hour SAG-AFTRA meeting on Tuesday. With that, the union's committee met again on Wednesday, and they ultimately elected to move forward with the deal on the table.

It was a long, stressful road for those organizing and picketing, and it stands to reason that not all of SAG-AFTRA's goals were met. But this is still a huge win for laborers in the entertainment field and the United States as a whole all the same.