[The agreements with actors and writers represent a capitulation
by Hollywood’s biggest companies, which started the bargaining
process with an expectation that the unions, especially SAG-AFTRA,
would be relatively compliant. ]
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STRIKING ACTORS AND HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS AGREE TO A DEAL  
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Brooks Barnes, John Koblin and Nicole Sperling
November 8, 2023
New York Times
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_ The agreements with actors and writers represent a capitulation by
Hollywood’s biggest companies, which started the bargaining process
with an expectation that the unions, especially SAG-AFTRA, would be
relatively compliant. _

Dual strikes by writers and actors brought Hollywood to a standstill
this year., Mark Abramson for The New York Times

 

One of the longest labor crises in Hollywood history is finally coming
to an end.

SAG-AFTRA, the union representing tens of thousands of actors, reached
a tentative deal for a new contract with entertainment companies on
Wednesday, clearing the way for the $134 billion American movie and
television business to swing back into motion.

Hollywood’s assembly lines have been at a near-standstill since May
because of a pair of strikes by writers and actors, resulting in
financial pain for studios and for many of the two million Americans
[[link removed].] —
makeup artists, set builders, location scouts, chauffeurs, casting
directors — who work in jobs directly or indirectly related to
making TV shows and films.

Upset about streaming-service pay and fearful of fast-developing
artificial intelligence technology, actors joined screenwriters on
picket lines in July. The writers had walked out in May over similar
concerns. It was the first time since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was the
head of the actors’ union and Marilyn Monroe was still starring in
films, that actors and writers were both on strike.

The Writers Guild of America, which represents 11,500
screenwriters, reached a tentative agreement
[[link removed]] with
studios on Sept. 24 and ended its 148-day strike on Sept. 27. In the
coming days, SAG-AFTRA members will vote on whether to accept their
union’s deal, which includes hefty gains, like increases in
compensation for streaming shows and films, better health care
funding, concessions from studios on self-taped auditions, and
guarantees that studios will not use artificial intelligence to create
digital replicas of their likenesses without payment or approval.

SAG-AFTRA, however, failed to receive a percentage of streaming
service revenue. It had proposed a 2 percent share — later dropped
to 1 percent, before a pivot to a per-subscriber fee. Fran Drescher,
the union’s president, had made the demand a priority, but companies
like Netflix balked, calling it “a bridge too far.”

Instead, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers,
which bargains on behalf of entertainment companies, proposed a new
residual for streaming programs based on performance metrics, which
the union, after making some adjustments, agreed to take.

At 118 days, it was the longest movie and television strike in the
union’s 90-year history. SAG-AFTRA said in a terse statement that
its negotiating committee had voted unanimously to approve the
tentative deal, which will proceed to the union’s national board on
Friday for “review and consideration.”

It added, “Further details will be released following that
meeting.”

Shaan Sharma, a member of the union’s negotiating committee, said he
had mixed emotions about the tentative deal, though he declined to go
into specifics because the SAG-AFTRA board still needed to review it.

“They say a negotiation is when both sides are unhappy because you
can’t get everything you want on either side,” he said, adding,
“You can be happy for the deal overall, but you can feel a sense of
loss for something that you didn’t get that you thought was
important.”

Ms. Drescher called the agreement “historic” in a post
[[link removed]] on Instagram. “We did
it!!!!” she wrote. She and other SAG-AFTRA officials had come under
severe pressure from agents, crew member unions and even some of her
own members, including George Clooney and Ben Affleck, to wrap up what
had started to feel like an interminable negotiation.

“I’m relieved,” Kevin Zegers, an actor most recently seen in the
ABC show “The Rookie: Feds,” said in an interview after the
union’s announcement. “If it didn’t end today, there would have
been riots.”

The studio alliance said in a statement that the tentative agreement
“represents a new paradigm,” giving SAG-AFTRA “the biggest
contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union.”

There is uncertainty over what a poststrike Hollywood will look like.
But one thing is certain: There will be fewer jobs for actors and
writers in the coming years, undercutting the wins that unions
achieved at the bargaining table.

Even before the strikes, entertainment companies were cutting back on
the number of television shows they ordered
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a result of severe pressure from Wall Street to turn money-losing
streaming services into profitable businesses. Analysts expect
companies to make up for the pair of pricey new labor contracts by
reducing costs elsewhere, including by making fewer shows
and canceling first-look deals
[[link removed]].

The actors, like the writers, said the streaming era had negatively
affected their working conditions and compensation. Jenna Schoenefeld
for The New York Times

For the moment, however, the agreements with actors and writers
represent a capitulation by Hollywood’s biggest companies, which
started the bargaining process with an expectation that the unions,
especially SAG-AFTRA, would be relatively compliant. Early in the
talks, for instance, the studio alliance — Netflix, Disney,
NBCUniversal, Apple, Amazon, Sony, Paramount, Warner Bros. — refused
to negotiate on multiple union proposals. “Rejected our proposal,
refused to make a counter” became a rallying cry among the striking
workers.

As the studio alliance tried to limit any gains, the companies cited
business challenges, including the rapid decline of cable television
and continued streaming losses. Disney, struggling with $4 billion in
streaming losses in 2022, eliminated 7,000 jobs in the spring.

But the alliance underestimated the pent-up anger pulsating among the
studios’ own workers. Writers and actors called the moment
“existential,” arguing that the streaming era had deteriorated the
working conditions and compensation for rank-and-file members of their
professions so much that they could no longer make a living. The
companies brushed such comments aside as union bluster and Hollywood
dramatics. They found out the workers were serious.

With the strikes dragging into the fall and the financial pain on both
sides mounting, the studio alliance reluctantly switched from trying
to limit gains to figuring out how to get Hollywood’s creative
assembly lines running again — even if that meant bending to the
will of the unions.

“It was all macho, tough-guy stuff from the companies for a
while,” said Jason E. Squire
[[link removed]], professor emeritus
at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.
“But that certainly did change.”

There had previously been 15 years of labor peace in Hollywood.

“The executives of these companies didn’t need to worry about
labor very much — they worried about other things,” Chris Keyser,
a chair of the Writers Guild negotiating committee, said in an
interview after the writers’ strike concluded. “They worried about
Wall Street and their free cash flow, and all of that.”

Mr. Keyser continued: “They could say to their labor executives,
‘Do the same thing you’ve been doing year after year. Just take
care of that, because labor costs are not going to be a problem.’
Suddenly, that wasn’t true anymore.” As a result of the strikes,
studios are widely expected to overhaul their approach to union
negotiations, which in many ways dates to the 1980s
[[link removed]].

Writers Guild leaders called their deal “exceptional” and
“transformative,” noting the creation of viewership-based
streaming bonuses and a sharp increase in royalty payments for
overseas viewing on streaming services. Film writers received
guaranteed payment for a second draft of screenplays, something the
union had tried but failed to secure for at least two decades.

The Writers Guild said the contract included enhancements worth
roughly $233 million annually. When bargaining started in the spring,
the guild proposed $429 million in enhancements, while studios
countered with $86 million, according to the guild.

For an industry upended by the streaming revolution, which the
pandemic sped up, the tentative accord takes a meaningful step toward
stabilization. About $10 billion in TV and film production has been on
hold, according to ProdPro, a production tracking service. That
amounts to 176 shows and films.

The fallout has been significant, both inside and outside the
industry. California’s economy alone has lost more than $5 billion,
according to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Because the actors’ union prohibited
its members from participating in promotional campaigns for
already-finished work, studios pulled movies like “Dune: Part Two”
from the fall release schedule, forgoing as much as $1.6 billion in
worldwide ticket sales, according to David A. Gross, a film
consultant.

With labor harmony restored, the coming weeks should be chaotic.
Studio executives and producers will begin a mad scramble to secure
soundstages, stars, insurance, writers and crew members so productions
can start running again as quickly as possible. Because of the
end-of-year holidays, some projects may not restart until January.

Both sides will have to go through the arduous process of working
together again after a searing six-month standoff. The strikes tore at
the fabric of the clubby entertainment world, with actors’ union
leaders describing executives as “land barons of a medieval time,”
and writers and actors still fuming that it took studio executives
months, not weeks, to reach a deal.

Workers and businesses caught in the crossfire were idled, potentially
leaving bitter feelings toward both sides.

And it appears that Hollywood executives will now have to contend with
a resurgent labor force, mirroring many other American businesses. In
recent weeks, production workers at Walt Disney Animation voted to
unionize, as did visual-effects workers at Marvel
[[link removed]].

Contracts with powerful unions that represent Hollywood crews will
expire in June and July, and negotiations are expected to be
fractious.

“It seemed apparent early on that we were part of a trend in
American society where labor was beginning to flex its muscles —
where unions were beginning to reassert their power,” said Mr.
Keyser, the Writers Guild official.

Brooks Barnes and Nicole Sperling reported from Los Angeles,
and John Koblin from New York.

 

Brooks Barnes [[link removed]] covers all
things Hollywood. He joined The New York Times in 2007 and previously
worked at The Wall Street Journal. More about Brooks Barnes
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John Koblin [[link removed]] covers the
television industry. He is the co-author of “It’s Not TV: The
Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO.” More about John
Koblin [[link removed]]

Nicole Sperling [[link removed]] is a
media and entertainment reporter, covering Hollywood and the
burgeoning streaming business. She joined The Times in 2019. She
previously worked for Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly and The Los
Angeles Times. More about Nicole Sperling
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* Labor
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* Strikes
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* Hollywood
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* unions
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* Screen Actors guild
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* actors
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* movies
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* TV
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