Key Points
- Members of America's actors' union have been on strike since July over a labour dispute with film and TV studios.
- On Wednesday, the union reached a tentative agreement with studios, clearing a path for actors to return to work.
- Actors sought an increase in salaries, a share of streaming revenue, and assurances they wouldn't be replaced by AI.
Hollywood actors have reached a tentative agreement with major studios to resolve the second of two strikes that rocked the entertainment industry as workers demanded higher pay in the .
The 118-day work stoppage would end officially just after midnight, the SAG-AFTRA union said on Wednesday after its negotiating committee voted unanimously to support the deal.
Valued at more than $US1 billion ($1.6 billion), the new three-year contract includes increases in minimum salaries and a new "streaming participation" bonus, the union said.
The deal also provides protections against unauthorized use of images generated by artificial intelligence (AI), an area that had emerged as a major concern from performers who feared being replaced by "digital doubles."
"We have arrived at a contract that will enable SAG-AFTRA members from every category to build sustainable careers," the union said.
SAG-AFTRA President and The Nanny star Fran Drescher wrote on Instagram: "We did it!!!! The Billion+ $ Deal!"
The group's national board will consider the agreement on Friday, and the union said it would release further details after that meeting.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which negotiated on behalf of Walt Disney, Netflix and other media companies, said the agreement represented "a new paradigm" that gave the union its "biggest contract-on-contract gains" in its history.
The organisation said it "looks forward to the industry resuming the work of telling great stories". With the strike ending, Hollywood can ramp up to full production for the first time since May.
Union members will vote to ratify the deal in the coming weeks, giving them a pathway to returning to work. Source: Getty / Mario Tama
Actors had similar concerns to film and television writers, who argued that compensation for working-class cast members had dwindled as streaming took hold, making it hard to earn a living wage in Los Angeles and New York.
TV series on streaming have not offered the same residual payments that actors enjoyed during the heyday of broadcast TV.
Performers also became alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence, which they feared could lead to studios manipulating their likenesses without permission or replacing human actors with digital images.
A key concern of striking actors was the possibility of artificial intelligence being used to replace them with digital replicas. Source: AAP / Etienne Laurent/EPA
Many film and TV sets shut down when the Writers Guild of America called a strike in the spring. While WGA members returned to writing scripts in late September, the SAG-AFTRA work stoppage left many productions dark.
The disruptions cost California more than $US6 billion ($9.3 billion) in lost output, according to a Milken Institute estimate.
With little work available, many prop masters, costume designers and other crew members struggled to make ends meet.
Hollywood's work stoppages forced broadcast networks to fill their autumn line-ups with repeats, game shows and reality shows.
It also led movie studios to delay big releases such as Dune: Part 2 because striking actors could not promote them. Other major films, including the latest instalment of Mission: Impossible and Disney's live-action remake of Snow White, were postponed until 2025.
