SAG-AFTRA Ratifies Four-Year Actors Contract with Studios, Securing AI Protections

Actors' union approves 4-year contract with studios and streamers

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Television and movie actors on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to ratify a four-year contract with studios and streaming services, a month after their union leaders negotiated a deal they say provides protections against synthetic actors created by artificial intelligence. The ratification was widely expected and a walkout never seemed to be in the cards during drama-free negotiations, but the vote assures there will be no repeat of the 2023 actor and writer strikes that seriously shook the entertainment industry. More than 90% of votes from members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists approved of the agreement, with about 19% of eligible voters casting ballots. Like the Writers Guild of America, whose members approved their own contract on April 24, the actors' new deal is for four years instead of the usual three, providing an extra layer of labor stability in the industry. Actor Sean Astin, president of SAG-AFTRA, said in a statement that the contract "delivers meaningful gains in compensation, strengthens protections around artificial intelligence and digital identity, reinforces the long-term security of members' benefit plans and recognizes the realities of how performers work today." The contract says AI performers must bring "significant additional value" over a live actor or a digital capture of them if producers are to use them. Union leaders say this and other provisions will keep use of AI actors minimal. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates for a coalition of Hollywood's major studios, streamers and production companies, congratulated the union on the ratification. "SAG-AFTRA's leadership brought a genuine commitment to partnership, and together with the WGA agreement, these deals demonstrate what is possible when the industry works toward practical solutions," the alliance said in a statement. AMPTP negotiators have been in contract talks with the Directors Guild of America since May 11. The negotiations are the first under new DGA president Christopher Nolan. That contract is set to expire June 30.

Actors' Union Approves 4-Year Contract With Studios and Streamers

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Television and movie actors on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to ratify a four-year contract with studios and streaming services, a month after their union leaders negotiated a deal they say provides protections against synthetic actors created by artificial intelligence. The ratification was widely expected and a walkout never seemed to be in the cards during drama-free negotiations, but the vote assures there will be no repeat of the 2023 actor and writer strikes that seriously shook the entertainment industry. More than 90% of votes from members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists approved of the agreement, with about 19% of eligible voters casting ballots. Like the Writers Guild of America, whose members approved their own contract on April 24, the actors' new deal is for four years instead of the usual three, providing an extra layer of labor stability in the industry. Actor Sean Astin, president of SAG-AFTRA, said in a statement that the contract "delivers meaningful gains in compensation, strengthens protections around artificial intelligence and digital identity, reinforces the long-term security of members' benefit plans and recognizes the realities of how performers work today." The contract says AI performers must bring "significant additional value" over a live actor or a digital capture of them if producers are to use them. Union leaders say this and other provisions will keep use of AI actors minimal. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates for a coalition of Hollywood's major studios, streamers and production companies, congratulated the union on the ratification. "SAG-AFTRA's leadership brought a genuine commitment to partnership, and together with the WGA agreement, these deals demonstrate what is possible when the industry works toward practical solutions," the alliance said in a statement. AMPTP negotiators have been in contract talks with the Directors Guild of America since May 11. The negotiations are the first under new DGA president Christopher Nolan. That contract is set to expire June 30.

SAG-AFTRA Ratifies Four-Year Deal With Studios and Streamers

Members of SAG-AFTRA have ratified the four-year deal with studios and streamers that union negotiators reached in early May. 91.42 percent of voters of voted to approve the contract, while 8.58 percent were opposed. 19.25 percent of eligible members turned out in the vote. SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin said in a statement, "I'm proud of our SAG-AFTRA membership and the strength they continue to show when we move together with a shared purpose. This agreement builds on the foundation members fought to establish and carries that work into the next chapter of our industry. It delivers meaningful gains in compensation, strengthens protections around artificial intelligence and digital identity, reinforces the long-term security of members' benefit plans and recognizes the realities of how performers work today." "Our members have always understood that protecting the future of this profession means preparing for change before it arrives. This agreement reflects that commitment and the collective power of this union," Astin concluded. The vote concludes a relatively uneventful negotiations period for the union, at least compared with its 2023 talks, when the labor group waged a 118-day strike over generative AI concerns and compensation in the streaming era. This time around, SAG-AFTRA headed into discussions with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) focused on bolstering its AI language and wages for members. Meanwhile, the studios and streamers were laser-focused on securing a longer deal than the parties' typical three-year deals in an attempt to ensure labor stability for a more extensive period. Their tentative agreement, reached May 2, gave both parties something to trumpet. The AMPTP got their four-year deal, while SAG-AFTRA could boast about a long-awaited plan to merge SAG-AFTRA's two pension plans, which had remained separate since the Screen Actors Guild merged with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 2012. When it comes to AI, the pact commits producers to using synthetic, AI-generated performers only when they add "significant additional value" to a project. It establishes a minimum payment rate as well as residuals for the use of independently created digital replicas (a hybrid performance incorporating both human acting and generative AI). Companies must also have an "articulable business reason" to scan a performer for a digital replica. On compensation issues, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP established minimum wage rate increases of three percent for each year of the deal and a health plan contribution rate increase of 1 percent starting July 1. The parties agreed to recommend adjustments to the health plan in acknowledgement of healthcare inflation, including a one-time quarterly eligibility premium increase and a change to the plan's eligibility threshold. In the burgeoning space of microdramas, both sides agreed the union could start bargaining terms and conditions of employment if individual companies began producing these bite-sized projects on "more than an experimental basis." In an interview with THR about the 2026 deal terms, SAG-AFTRA's national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said the union leveraged the companies' interest in a longer deal to address more of their priorities. "Obviously the companies really wanted a longer term," Crabtree-Ireland said. "What can we maybe achieve that we wouldn't have otherwise been able to if we entertain that idea? And that's how we ultimately ended up there." SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland led negotiations for the union, while AMPTP president Greg Hessinger headed up talks for the studios.