The actors’ union revealed that the new agreement with studios guarantees salary improvements and regulation of the use of AI.
Oil the gears and fill up the tanks, because the Hollywood machine is about to return to full steam. OSAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union in the United States, announced the end of the strike after midnight today (9), West Coast time. After 118 days on strike, the actors can finally return to work alongside the screenwriters, who were also on strike from May 2nd to September 27th.
The new agreement with AMPTP, an alliance of producers made up of names like Bob Iger, from Disneye David Zaslav, daWarner Bros. Discoveryaddressed a series of measures that establish salary improvements, regulations regarding the use ofartificial intelligence, participation in the profits of streaming productions and a substantial increase in pensions and health plans. Further details about the agreement will be revealed following review by the SAG-AFTRA National Council.
In a note issued on the union’s social media, they thanked the support provided by the WGA, the Writers’ Guild of America, calling them united brothers.
The end of the strike was also celebrated by Liz Shuler, president of the union, on her official union account.Twitter (X). Check out her post below:
Workers stood up to Hollywood executives and held their ground to reach this agreement.
The @sagaftra actors and performing artists showed the world the true power of collective action.
ANYTHING is possible when we organize.
Liz Shuler (@LizShuler) November 9, 2023
Workers stood up to Hollywood executives and stood their ground to reach this agreement. @sagaftra actors and artists showed the world the true power of collective action. ANYTHING is possible when we organize ourselves, commented the president.
Affected products
The four-month strike had a significant impact on the American economy, estimated at more than $1 billion. This is due to the stoppage of films and series that were in production, as well as the union’s prohibition of actors from promoting their films that were close to release. But as with every rule, there is an exception, some small and medium-sized studios, such as A24 and Lionsgate, were allowed to release their films during the strike. For example, the Lionsgate film The Hunger Games A Song of Birds and Snakes was released to be promoted in the presence of the cast.
However, the situation was not the best for those at large studios, such as Disney, Universal and Paramount. Several important projects have been put on hold, including the highly anticipated Deadpool 3, Gladiator 2, Venom 3, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Mission: Impossible – Reckoning Part 2, Daredevil Born Again and Beetlejuice 2. Other films that were in the pre-production phase also suffered delays, such as the sequel to Spider-Man: No Return Home.
Among these, it is worth highlighting the productions Daredevil Born Again and Misso Impossvel.
- Daredevil Born Again: The Marvel series for Disney+ focused on the superhero Daredevil was just beginning filming when the strike began, but was able to move on to the editing and editing phase. However, something surprised fans. Marvel fired the writers and directors to revamp the series due to dissatisfaction with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who expressed concerns about the show’s pacing. After reevaluation, the series will have showrunner and executives for television series, something that has not been done since the beginning of Marvel Studios’ series productions for Disney+, starting with WandaVision, in 2021.
- Mission Impossible: The strike affected both parts of “Mission Impossible – Reckoning”. The first part, which was released in cinemas on July 13th, did not include the main cast due to the strike. The star of the feature film himself asked the union, as an exception, to be able to publish it, however the request was denied. The second part, which had filming stopped, was postponed by almost a year, moving from June 28, 2024 to May 23, 2025.
Unshaven Produes
As surprising as it may seem, some highly anticipated productions, such as the first film in the new DC cinematic universe, “Superman: Legacy”, and “The Batman Part II”, a sequel to the 2022 film, were not affected by the actors’ strike, since, during the period, both were in the pre-production phase, remaining with their release dates scheduled for July 11 and October 3, 2025, respectively. This is due to the fact that the filming of these films was only scheduled for the first half of 2024, if the actors’ strike ended this year (which, to our happiness, it happened).
In a celebratory gesture, the director and screenwriter of the next Man of Steel film and hits such as Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn, shared on his official Twitter account Threads a thank you emoji for the end of the strike. Check it out below:
Post by @jamesgunn
View on Threads
The future of Hollywood
Even with the good news for film lovers (like me), it is worth remembering that the agreement between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP has a term of three years, with the need for renewal after the period. It can be expected that new regulations regarding the use of AI will be requested by WGA actors and screenwriters, given that it continues to concern these professionals, especially with regard to the devaluation of human work. Even so, AI continues to be an attractive tool for studios because it is an easy and cheap way to have the presence of these professionals, who sometimes have scheduling conflicts. For us viewers, we can only wait for updates from SAG-AFTRA, WGA and AMPTP on how AI will be incorporated into future Hollywood productions.
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