SAG-AFTRA National Council approves new study exclusivity terms –

SAG-AFTRA’s national board has approved a new deal on exclusivity terms with major studios, the union said on Saturday.

95 percent of votes were in favor of the deal, with just over 4 percent against, the union said. A general yes vote means the terms will apply to contracts starting in 2023; Union members do not need to vote to ratify the language. The decision comes five days after the union reached an interim agreement with the Alliance of Film and Television Producers (AMPTP), which negotiates on behalf of major entertainment companies, on terms on Aug. 15 after nearly a month of negotiations.

“This negotiation reflects a healthier collaboration between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP in the interdependent relationship we share. AMPTP was motivated to come to the table and improve the contract that has dogged our members for years,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement. “I want to thank the negotiation committee and our members for their involvement and commitment to this matter, especially the series regulars who came and witnessed, wrote posts, and were in the room with us during the negotiations.

The agreement gives TV artists a minimum period of three months (what the union calls a “strike window”) during each show’s season where they can take on some form of work on another show or network “without approval.” . Availability and potential schedule,” the union said. This window is not required when the television show’s filming schedule is less than four months between seasons. In addition, the agreement includes the so-called “money break”, at which point the actors and/or their agents must freely negotiate contracts with the producers. This new cap is set at $65,000 per week or per episode for half-hour shows (previously $15,000) and $70,000 per week or per episode for hour-long shows or longer (previously $20,000).

The deal also gives actors who are considered series regulars more options for additional work: they can get a regular job on the second series and unlimited guest star roles, including recurring ones, as long as they don’t last more than six episodes. . The union further says it has set “strict limits on the reasons allowed by a show producer can prevent a series regular from appearing on another show”, but did not detail what those allowable reasons are.

SAG-AFTRA recently lobbied to challenge the exclusivity requirement for television actors who are considered series regulars. Prior to the deal, SAG-AFTRA lobbied for the Independent Artists Industry Restrictions Act (FAIR), which was introduced by California Representative Ash Kalra. The bill, AB 2926, originally offered musicians more freedom to leave a “personal service” contract after seven years and also prohibited contracts that prohibited workers from working with multiple employers, which applied to actors. It has since been split into two similar projects, one covering actors (AB 437) and the other covering musical artists (AB 983).

According to SAG-AFTRA, AB 437 will be “transferred” as a result of the new exclusivity agreement.

In his statement, Drescher thanked the many politicians who supported AB 437, the Allow Artists to Work Act, for helping to secure the agreement. “Your support of the project has helped us move forward on issues that we haven’t been able to resolve for many, many years,” he said.

SAG-AFTRA Country Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland added in a statement that “These landmark achievements represent the culmination of a long-term strategy in which our negotiations with Netflix and AMPTP are aligned with the legislative work. what are we doing. for more than two years. “

Union also addressed exclusivity in the latest successor deal to its 2019 Netflix deal. The interim deal, which has been approved by the union’s national board but not yet ratified by members, increases the settlement’s monetary compensation to $65,000. per half-hour episode and $70,000 per one-hour episode, up from the previous cap of $40,000. Below monetary compensation, the interim agreement allows actors to take on additional regular “supporting” roles in the series or lead roles in the miniseries, as well as unlimited guest star appearances, among other changes.

On a recent episode of the SAG-AFTRA podcast, union hiring director Ray Rodriguez said that when it comes to the Netflix deal, “the timing was perfect for us to use the fact that this legislation was pending as leverage. The changes we need in this area.” CEO and Chief National Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland agreed: “The bottom line is that our legislative work gave us the leverage we needed to implement a lot of what was done in these options and exclusivity negotiations.”