Following approval from its national board, SAG-AFTRA has released the details of its tentative bargaining agreement with Hollywood studios and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which like the one ratified by the Writers Guild of America will last four years instead of the usual three.
As part of the agreement, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP have agreed to merge the SAG-Producers Pension Plan and AFTRA Retirement Fund into a single merged plan with an additional 1% to the studio contribution rate. The merge is expected to be completed by January 1, 2028, nearly 16 years after SAG and AFTRA merged in 2012.
On the AI front, the union touted new and expanded guardrails regarding “synthetic performers,” the term used for performers created completely from generative AI that are not replicas of a specific performer. SAG-AFTRA says that the deal is based on a principle “strongly favoring human performances” and includes a memorandum of understanding stating that producers do not intend to use synthetic performers in a human role unless it would bring “significant additional value” to the motion picture.
Beyond synthetic performers, new language has been added to the contract forbidding producers from using a digital replica of a performer to replace them during a strike and requiring them to have an “articulable business reason” to scan someone for a digital replica to begin with. Further protections for digital replicas of minors were also negotiated.
“This contract is a testament to the incredible unity and determination of our members, and I am proud to deliver an agreement that results in meaningful gains across the board, from benefit plans to artificial intelligence to residuals, and beyond,” national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a statement.
SAG-AFTRA was the first union to begin negotiations back in February, and held talks with the AMPTP for five weeks before pausing to allow the studios to begin their talks with the Writers Guild. The two sides returned to the negotiating table on April 27 and announced their tentative deal on May 2.
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