SAG-AFTRA's tentative agreement to end actors strike will get nearly 200,000 New Yorkers back to work
NEW YORK -- The actors strike is finally over - a big win for New York.
The deal reached Wednesday night between SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood studios ends the almost 4-month strike and will help nearly 200,000 New Yorkers get back to work after 118 days.
"The demands were made and met," said SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher.
Details of the tentative 3-year agreement won't be released until Friday at the earliest, but some of the highlights reportedly include a first-time bonus for streaming and "unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI."
- Read More: SAG-AFTRA reaches tentative agreement with Hollywood studios in a move to end nearly 4-month strike
"This is the first time that we've ever had a deal that was valued at over a billion dollars in gains during the term of the contract," said SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said the tentative agreement "represents a new paradigm ... including the largest increase in minimum wages in the last forty years."
Motion picture production in New York City reached an all-time high in 2019, including 80 television series and 300 feature films.
We are a union town and we're thrilled that the brightest lights of the screen will once again shine in New York City.
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) November 9, 2023
Film and TV is an $82 billion industry employing nearly 200,000 New Yorkers who are ready to get back to work!
Congratulations to @sagaftra on this victory. https://t.co/5AbdnZP2F4
The city's film and television industry was responsible for 185,000 jobs and $82 billion in total economic output before the COVID pandemic shut down productions in early 2020.
"The industry was really in a serious recovery mode," said Pat Swinney Kaufman, commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment.
Kaufman said the city was getting closer to the 2019 numbers when the strike started.
"Everything stopped. And so it meant that the studios were shut down, the small businesses, all the ancillary companies that are there to support film production when in New York. All of that had been shut down and that took a heavy toll on many, many people," said Kaufman.
Officials are still tallying up the damage, but looking forward to a finalized deal so production can resume.
"We've got people already, productions already calling," said Kaufman. "They're reopening their offices and getting ready. I think it's safe to say that there will be cameras rolling by the end of November."
Before the deal becomes official, the national board of SAG-AFTRA will review the agreement and could approve it. Details will be released and then the guild's full membership will vote.