On November 8, after 115 days on strike, the Screen Actor’s Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) finally announced that they had come to an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) which will mark the end of the longest actors strike in history. In a statement posted to their website, SAG-AFTRA wrote, “In a contract valued at over one billion dollars, we have achieved a deal of extraordinary scope that includes ‘above pattern’ minimum compensation increases, unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI, and for the first time establishes a streaming participation bonus.”
This is a huge victory for the entire entertainment industry as these were major issues that many people thought would never get resolved. During the strike, many seasoned actors experienced a disadvantage in pay such as Sean Gunn who’s known for Gilmore Girls, explained that he had not been paid since the show ended even though Gilmore Girls continues to be one of the biggest streamed shows on Netflix. To see that issues such as that are finally being resolved is a huge step in the right direction. SAG-AFTRA’s statement continued, “We have arrived at a contract that will enable SAG-AFTRA members from every category to build sustainable careers. Many thousands of performers now and into the future will benefit from this work.” They concluded by thanking their union partners such as the Writers Guild of America (WGA) for sticking by them. The WGA’s strike concluded at the end of September. Now that both strikes have officially come to an end, many actors and performers are celebrating the monumental win.
Many shows and movies that were halted due to the strike are now back in action and production such as Stranger Things and Abbott Elementary. Actors are also now able to freely promote their projects and there has been little hesitation to do so. Timothee Chalamet hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend and made a joke about the strike ending and eagerly shared how he could now promote his new movie Wonka that comes out on December 15. Many people are also sharing their favorite memes and tweets about the strike coming to a close with one user @Goldxn_Violin tweeting “I need 50 Buzzfeed puppies, 18 Actors on Actors, 73 Hot Ones, 30 lie detector tests, 15 trying UK snacks, and I need them now,” in all caps. Overall, society is obviously ecstatic to finally have a much anticipated return to TV and movies and the SAG-AFTRA strike is sure to go down as the longest and most influential strike in entertainment history.
