Actors strike ends: SAG-AFTRA leadership OKs tentative deal with major Hollywood studios

Bryan Alexander and Kelly Lawler, Palm Springs Desert Sun
·2 min read
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Hollywood actors will return to work on TV and movies. The actors' union's negotiating team on Wednesday reached a tentative agreement with the group representing studios and streamers, ending the historic strike that began July 14.

The Associated Press reported that the 160,000-member Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) agreed to the deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) representing employers including Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon.

The strike will officially end at 12:01 a.m. PST Thursday, which will lead studios to resume production of TV shows and movies that has been largely shuttered for the past six months, since the Writers Guild of America began its own walkout on May 2.

The actors' union will now schedule a vote among its full membership to formally authorize the deal, putting actors one step closer to stepping in front of the cameras again.

After two and a half months of striking without negotiations, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP first met on Oct. 2, but talks fell through when the AMPTP walked away on Oct. 11. Studio representatives said that "conversations (were) no longer moving us in a productive direction."

Bargaining resumed on Oct. 24 and included major executives from four Hollywood studios as the two sides tried to hammer out a deal.

Actor Noah Wyle on the picket line outside Netflix studios in September. The actors' union has reached a deal to end the strike that began July 14.
Actor Noah Wyle on the picket line outside Netflix studios in September. The actors' union has reached a deal to end the strike that began July 14.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher was ready for a 'long-haul' strike

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, star of the hit '90s sitcom "The Nanny," said in July that the union was ready for a "long haul" strike to achieve demands that included increased actors' salaries and basing actors' compensation on the success of their shows and movies on streaming services. Protections against the studios' use of Artificial Intelligence and digital replicas of actors were also among the union's priorities, but the studios initially bristled at many of the union's asks.

Details of the tentative actors' deal were not immediately made available.

For much of the summer, actors shared the picket line with WGA members, who were on strike for 148 days. The dual actors' and writers' strikes brought Hollywood movie and TV production to a standstill throughout the summer and fall.

The WGA leadership voted Sept. 27 to affirm a deal with the AMPTP, bringing some TV shows back on air, including late-night talk shows such as "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

Writers strike officially ends Hollywood writers ratify new contract with studios

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Actors strike ends: SAG-AFTRA reaches tentative deal with studios