SAG-AFTRA Reacts to AMPTP Deal, End of Actors Strike

Hollywood may soon be back in business.

SAG-AFTRA has reached a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). If ratified, the new contract would end the actors union’s historic 118-day strike.

“We’re set up to go six months if we have to,” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said when the strike began on July 14, and while it didn’t reach that point, the work stoppage did last longer than expected. People on all sides of the entertainment industry felt hopeful that the AMPTP would reach common ground with the actors after the Sept. 26 end of the 148-day Writers Guild of America strike thanks to a deal the WGA negotiating committee called “exceptional.”

And while that deal did make room for SAG-AFTRA to begin negotiating again on Oct. 2, by Oct. 11, those talks had fallen apart, with the union alleging “bully tactics” on the studios’ part, while the studios said the divide between the parties was “too great.”

As the strike approached 100 days, A-list actors like George Clooney pressured Drescher and SAG-AFTRA leadership to reach a deal, even putting forth a (rejected) proposal of their own to increase dues and decrease residuals for the top-earners in order to make up for some of the money the studios were refusing to pay. But the studios did finally invite the guild back to the bargaining table on Oct. 24 with a new offer. By Nov. 4, they had delivered their “last, best and final offer” — which was deliberated on for four more days.

On Nov. 8, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav expressed optimism that the strike would end soon on their companies’ respective earnings calls. Later that day, the two parties finally reached a tentative agreement, causing wide celebration throughout the business as SAG-AFTRA members wait to vote on and likely ratify their new contract.

“Woo hooo!!!! Let’s hope the deal is fair and we can get back to work!” wrote Daniel Dae Kim on X, formerly known as Twitter.