SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP announced in a joint statement Wednesday that they will resume negotiations on Monday. The announcement comes 75 days into the actors’ strike against the studios.
“SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP will resume negotiations for a new TV/Theatrical contract on Monday, Oct. 2. Several executives from AMPTP member companies will be in attendance,” the joint statement read.
The joint statement was released just one day after the Writers Guild of America completed its contract negotiations with the AMPTP after five months on strike. The main deal points of their new three-year contract led to significant raises for writers’ work, a 26% increase to residuals, minimum staffing requirements and guaranteed protections on artificial intelligence, according to a WGA release on Tuesday.
The actors guild’s negotiations echo many of the same concerns seen in the WGA’s, particularly fair-pay residuals in the age of streaming and workplace protections through the growth of AI.
With the WGA’s momentum this week, there was a lot of desire at the studios to get talks with the actors’ union started as soon as possible, TheWrap reported Tuesday. Film awards season is around the corner, and motion picture groups are itching to get films rolling again in the new year while bringing stability to their 2024 release slates.
The resumed talks on the SAG-AFTRA contract, however, are expected to take considerably longer than the five days of renewed talks it took for the WGA to reach a deal. This is both because the two sides haven’t met since initial talks ended without an agreement on July 12, and also because of the larger amount of contract issues that cover the various kinds of performers within SAG-AFTRA’s 160,000-plus membership.
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