Actors ratify deal with Hollywood Studios, subject to change
Actors voted in favor of a new three-year contract with studios, although some union members remained dissatisfied with the deal’s artificial intelligence protections. The ratification formally ended six months of labor unrest in the entertainment industry.
SAG-AFTRA, as the actors’ union is known, said Tuesday that more than 50,000 members submitted their ballots during the three-week voting period. The contract was ratified with 78 percent of the vote, easily passing the required simple majority threshold.
By comparison, however, screenwriters ratified their new contracts with studios in October with 99 percent of the vote. And the writers got less in one respect: Desperate for a solution to the second of two strikes — writers left the office in May and actors in July — studios agreed last month to give actors a 7 percent raise in the first years, while writers received 5 percent.
SAG-AFTRA valued the deal at more than $1 billion over three years, noting that it also includes artificial intelligence protections, better health care financing, improved hair and makeup services on sets, concessions from studios for self-taped auditions and a requirement for intimacy coordinators for sex scenes, among other things.
But some SAG-AFTRA members have questioned the strength of the artificial intelligence protections.
The new contract guarantees that studios will not use AI tools to create digital replicas of performers without payment or approval, rights that actors previously did not have and that SAG-AFTRA leaders have described as a hard-won starting point. The new contract requires studios to meet at least twice a year until then to discuss the rapidly evolving technology.
However, the contract does not prohibit studios from filling screens with “synthetic fakes,” or using artificial intelligence to create a completely fictional character by splicing together recognizable features from real actors. “Ratification of this contract will result in greater job reductions, especially for background and stunt performers,” SAG-AFTRA board member Matthew Modine said in a statement last month.
“The use of AI has already had a financial impact on voice artists,” he added. “The industry has shown that it has no qualms about replacing human actors with digitized ‘soundalike’ voices. Even monstrous resurrecting voices of artists who are no longer alive.”
Mr. Modine and other actors have also criticized the contract for allowing studios to require body scans as a condition of employment. Studios can also use past performances to train AI tools.
In a message to members Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA called the contract a “huge victory.” Of voting members, 38 percent did so, compared to approximately 27 percent in 2020 and 15 percent in 2017.
“Let us celebrate what we have accomplished together and continue to cherish the bonds forged during this season of solidarity,” Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA, said in the note to members.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of the largest entertainment companies, congratulated the union.
“This vote will allow the industry and the jobs it supports to return in full force,” the alliance said in a statement.
The strikes brought Hollywood to a standstill and the financial consequences were significant. In addition to the writers and actors, more than 100,000 employees behind the scenes were without work for months. According to Todd Holmes, associate professor of entertainment media management at California State University, Northridge, the strikes caused about $10 billion in losses nationwide. Although the major studios are based in Los Angeles, they also use soundstage complexes in Georgia, New York, New Jersey and New Mexico.