For the first time in over six decades, Hollywood faced simultaneous strikes by the two unions that represent actors and screenwriters—and as of November 9, it appears the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has finally reached an agreement with producers. The strike by the Writers Guild of America ended in late September.
After the deadline to secure a new contract between actors union SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers passed on July 12 with no agreement reached, union leadership announced imminent plans for an actors strike. The ripple effects were immediately felt, with movie stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Florence Pugh leaving the Oppenheimer red carpet premiere to prepare for the picket line.
“At some point, the jig is up. You cannot keep being dwindled and marginalized and disrespected and dishonored. The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI. This is a moment of history,” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said at a press conference on July 13. “If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble.”
Along with the WGA strike, which began on May 2, the actors’ work stoppage effectively brought television and film productions across the world to a halt—with enormous ramifications for Hollywood.
When SAG members joined WGA on the picket line, it was the first time the unions representing actors and screenwriters had gone on strike at the same time since 1960. That year, SAG (led by future U.S. President Ronald Reagan) entered a six-week strike in the midst of the WGA’s strike, which would last for nearly six months.
This year’s strike ultimately lasted 118 days, becoming the longest strike ever against Hollywood studios, and the second-longest actors strike in history.
Below, we break down everything you need to know about the strike.
What is SAG-AFTRA?
The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is a union representing about 160,000 actors, broadcast journalists, announcers, hosts, stunt performers, and other media professionals. Under a collective bargaining agreement spearheaded by the union, SAG-AFTRA members receive protections on things like pay, working conditions, and residuals.
SAG-AFTRA bargains with AMPTP, which represents studios, production companies, and streaming services like Paramount, Disney, and Netflix. Contracts are renegotiated every three years. While the latest contract was originally set to expire on June 30, it was extended with a new deadline: 11:59 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, July 12.
What did the actors want?
SAG members were fighting for better pay and working conditions as they face a labor landscape transformed by streaming and threatened by artificial intelligence.
With streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Max reshaping the culture of television and movie-watching, the nature of actors’ pay has changed as well. In addition to facing declining residuals and wages that haven’t kept up with inflation, actors can no longer rely on royalty payments that are contingent on the number of a show’s reruns. Streaming has also complicated job opportunities. Since many shows now run for shorter seasons over longer periods of time, actors argue there is less work available to them.
The unregulated use of AI, which could be used reproduce an actor’s likeness or performance, has also been a point of contention at the bargaining table. SAG members were demanding guarantees as to how exactly AI will be deployed by studio and production companies.
“This is a power grab, pure and simple. We see what’s coming. They can’t pretend we won’t be used digitally or become the source of new, cheap, AI-created content for the studios,” an actor told Deadline of AMPTP’s position.
For months, AMPTP refused to budge on the matter, but earlier this week, Variety and other news outlets reported that the studios had finally agreed to change the language about AI in actors’ contracts.
Of the 65,000 SAG members who cast a ballot in June, about 98 percent voted to authorize union leaders to call for a strike if no deal was reached by the July 12 deadline. Back in June, more than 300 actors also publicly threw their support behind a potential strike by signing a letter that called on SAG-AFTRA leadership to “make clear our resolve” that “this is not a moment to meet in the middle” on consequential issues. Signatories include high-profile names like Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Keke Palmer, Olivia Wilde, Quinta Brunson, and even SAG-AFTRA president Drescher.
The letter read, in part:
This is an unprecedented inflection point in our industry, and what might be considered a good deal in any other years is simply not enough. We feel that our wages, our craft, our creative freedom, and the power of our union have all been undermined in the last decade. We need to reverse those trajectories. With inflation and continued growth in streaming, we need a seismic realignment of our minimum pay and new media residuals, our exclusivity carveouts, and other terms. We also think it’s absolutely vital that the deal restore dignity to the casting process by regulating how self-tapes are used. This is an enormous problem for working class actors. And especially as regards Artificial Intelligence, we do not believe that SAG-AFTRA members can afford to make halfway gains in anticipation of that more will be coming in three years, and we think it is absolutely vital that this negotiation protects not just our likenesses, but makes sure we are well compensated when any of our work is used to train AI. We want you to know that we would rather go on strike than compromise on these fundamental points, and we believe that, if we settle for a less than transformative deal, the future of our union and our craft will be undermined, and SAG-AFTRA will enter the next negotiation with drastically reduced leverage.
How did the strike affect Hollywood?
By going on strike, actors leveraged their collective power as workers to get their demands met in their next contract with AMPTP. With SAG-AFTRA members (plus the striking screenwriters; more on that later) withholding their labor—and thus the profits that labor would generate—studios and production companies had an incentive to put forth a proposal that would bring the actors back to work.
What did that mean for actors, TV shows, movies, and audiences in the meantime?
A majority of film and television sets were shut down indefinitely, pushing back release dates for new movies and shows—meaning viewers now have to wait longer to see new seasons of their favorite shows. (Late-night talk shows like The Tonight Show and The Late Show went on a similar hiatus when the WGA strike began this past spring.)
Actors were not permitted to promote their projects with AMPTP members—i.e., the vast majority of productions—meaning they could not participate in premieres, press junkets, interviews, panels, or similar events or mention projects on their social media accounts.
News programs were unaffected by the strike.
How did the strike end?
On November 8, SAG-AFTRA announced it had reached a tentative agreement with AMPTP and that the strike would officially end at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, November 9.
Among the gains secured by the union are: “‘above-pattern’ minimum compensation increases, unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI, and for the first time … a streaming participation bonus,” a SAG-AFTRA statement said. The new deal also includes increased pension and health caps, higher compensation for background actors, and other contract provisions for “diverse communities.”
“We have arrived at a contract that will enable SAG-AFTRA members from every category to build sustainable careers,” the statement said. “Many thousands of performers now and into the future will benefit from this work.”
Have actors gone on strike before?
SAG and AFTRA have gone on strike multiple times, before and since merging in 2012. SAG’s first strike started in December 1952. The most recent strike took place in 2000 and was the longest-ever actors strike, against the American Association of Advertising Agencies, with actors picketing for 182 days starting in May and ending in October. At the time, negotiations had broken down over compensation for actors’ work in TV and internet commercials.
What about the writers strike?
On September 24, the WGA reached a tentative agreement with AMPTP after 146 days on the picket line.
“We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional—with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership,” the writers union’s negotiating committee said in a statement released to members. Though the strike is still technically ongoing until the guild authorizes the official end of the work stoppage, leadership has suspended picketing.
Screenwriters with the Writers Guild of America went on strike in early May. WGA leaders and the AMPTP failed to reach an agreement on disputes similar to SAG members’ issues, including media residuals and the use of AI.
Soon after the announcement of the tentative agreement, SAG released a statement congratulating the WGA on its efforts and urging AMPTP to return to the table to discuss the actors’ contract.
“We applaud your dedication, diligence and unwavering solidarity over the last five months and are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with you as creative partners in the entertainment industry,” the statement read. “We look forward to reviewing the terms of the WGA and AMPTP’s tentative agreement. And we remain ready to resume our own negotiations with the AMPTP as soon as they are prepared to engage on our proposals in a meaningful way. Until then, we continue to stand strong and unified.”
As an associate editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, Chelsey keeps a finger on the pulse on all things celeb news. She also writes on social movements, connecting with activists leading the fight on workers' rights, climate justice, and more. Offline, she’s probably spending too much time on TikTok, rewatching Emma (the 2020 version, of course), or buying yet another corset.
