Actors and film studios in Hollywood have reached a “tentative agreement” to end a strike that has lasted almost four months. Representatives of the actors and the film studios approved the agreement on Wednesday (local time) “in a unanimous vote,” the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA announced, according to consistent media reports.
The provisional agreement could end the 118-day strike at midnight (local time, 09:00 CET), it said. The agreement still needs to be ratified by union members before it can take effect. Details were not yet known. If union members approve the agreement, the entire contract is expected to be made public on Friday. If the actors then return to work, it would end one of the longest and largest work stoppages in Hollywood history.
The approximately 160,000 actors and actresses in the USA had been on strike since July 14th. The actors demanded, among other things, better remuneration and the regulation of the use of artificial intelligence in the industry. The screenwriters had also been on strike since the beginning of May, but reached an agreement with the studios in early October. It was the first time in more than 60 years that writers and actors had struck at the same time.
Numerous blockbusters postponed
The strike shut down production across the industry for nearly four months and raised existential questions about the future of the entertainment industry. Numerous television and film productions were interrupted or canceled. Although many reality shows and some independent projects were able to continue production, major studios were forced to postpone numerous blockbusters, including Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Dune: Part Two and Gladiator 2 as well as series hits like Euphoria and Stranger Things.
The unions particularly demanded better compensation when films or series are streamed on platforms such as Netflix, Apple and Amazon.
Another central topic was the use of AI. Writers were worried that studios would replace them with technology. Actors feared that their likeness would be digitized and simulated without compensation or consent.
At the beginning of October, writers in Hollywood put an end to their nearly five-month-long strike. With an overwhelming majority of 99 percent, the screenwriters accepted the new collective agreement with the major film studios. This also contains wage increases and regulations for the use of AI as well as higher subsidies for old age and health care.