After SAG-AFTRA: Debriefing the Months-Long Actors’ Strike that Ended with a Landmark Contract 

Abigail Moser* 

From the heartfelt comedy Barbie to the harrowing biopic Oppenheimer, 2023 was decidedly a renaissance for the TV-film industry.¹ Following a devastating blow to the industry in 2020, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic,² this past year was reinvigorating for TV-film professionals and consumers alike.³ But despite these box office successes, the film industry faced another roadblock: an actors’ strike.⁴ In 2023, the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (“SAG-AFTRA”), an American labor union for actors, was due to renew their contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (“AMPTP”).⁵ AMPTP is a collective bargaining representative organization which represents scores of television and film production companies during contract negotiations, including those negotiations with SAG-AFTRA.⁶ During the initial contract negotiations with AMPTP, SAG-AFTRA brought new interests to the table that reflected the vast technology and industry changes in recent years.⁷ However, these early negotiations were unsuccessful, the parties were unable to reach an agreement, and subsequently, the actors’ strike commenced.⁸

I. The Strike

On July 14, 2023, SAG-AFTRA issued a strike order against the AMPTP.⁹ Union members approached both the picket lines and the press to vocalize their demands, advocating for a variety of interests.¹⁰ One such interest was protection regarding the increased use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) in film and television production.¹¹ Actors were concerned that producers would create digital replicas of performers without just compensation.¹² Other actors feared that lesser involved roles, such as voice actors or background characters, will be replaced or eradicated with artificial intelligence.¹³ Another paramount issue of the strike was ensuring actors receive sufficient compensation after the theatrical release of a production, which are called residuals.¹⁴ With the prevalence of new media, or streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and HBOMax, the way actors receive residuals has dramatically changed.¹⁵ Unlike films which can be bought on DVD, downloaded, made available on paid TV channels, and eventually accessible to basic cable channels, productions that go directly to streaming services do not pay out as much in residual checks.¹⁶ Whereas once actors could live on residual checks when work was inconsistent, now union members are reporting that the payouts are insufficient to provide a livable wage in between projects.¹⁷ These concerns were among the many voiced by SAG-AFTRA members during the labor strike.¹⁸ The strike and subsequent negotiations went on for a record-breaking amount of time.¹⁹

II. The Contract

After numerous months of negotiations and delayed productions,²⁰ SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP reached an agreement.²¹ On November 8, 2023, board members approved the tentative agreement.²² Less than a month later, SAG-AFTRA members voted to ratify the landmark contract.²³ SAG-AFTRA has called this agreement a “billion-dollar contract,” named in part for the additional wages purportedly available to actors under the terms of the agreement.²⁴ One such term guarantees a first year-wage increase.²⁵ Moreover, residual payouts from streaming services will here on out be given to actors as bonuses, with such payment amounts to be determined based on the production’s particular ratings and the actor’s respective role therein.²⁶

Regarding AI and its role in the TV-film industry, the agreement guarantees union members’ autonomy as to whether their body or voice may be digitally replicated using AI technologies.²⁷ Importantly, the agreement provides that a production company may not digitally replicate an actor without their consent or without forty-eight hours’ notice.²⁸ Though the agreement provides this safeguard to actors, some actors argue that the agreement falls short in key issues.²⁹ For instance, the current agreement does not bar a production company from taking physical characteristics from multiple actors and creating an entirely new character “from scratch.”³⁰ This leaves certain actors, particularly voice actors and background actors, unwary as to whether their jobs will be replaced by AI.³¹ Though it is clear many people believe the agreement falls short in protecting actors from losing wages to AI, the contract gives actors greater consent as to whether they are willing to be digitally replicated in a TV or film production.³²

Notwithstanding the specified contractual terms, this ordeal represents uniquely modern labor disputes as longstanding industries adapt to societal changes in technology and entertainment. Many industries, including both the entertainment and legal fields, are feeling the growing pains resulting from such changes. For any aspiring or practicing labor, contract, or entertainment lawyers, this agreement will serve as a case study as to how AI and internet-based services will factor into negotiations and contractual processes between labor unions, companies, and other professional industries alike.

*Abigail Moser, J.D. Candidate at the University of St. Thomas School of Law Class of 2025, Associate Editor of the University of St. Thomas Law Journal

1. Kyle Buchanan, ‘Barbenheimer’ Is a Huge Hollywood Moment and Maybe the Last for a While, N.Y. Times (Jul. 21, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/21/movies/barbenheimer-strike.html. ↩︎
2. Brad Adgate, The Impact COVID-19 Had on the Entertainment Industry in 2020, Forbes (Apr. 13, 2021, 11:45 AM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2021/04/13/the-impact-covid-19-had-on-the-entertainment-industry-in-2020/?sh=49f7fa51250f (In 2020, the global-theatrical and home/mobile entertainment market declined 18% from 2019, reaching a lowest figure since 2016. Theatrical revenue dropped from $42.3 billion in 2019 to $12 billion in 2020). ↩︎
3. Buchanan, supra note 1. ↩︎
4. Buchanan, supra note 1. ↩︎
5. Lisa Richwine and Dawn Chmielewski, Hollywood Actors to Strike at Midnight, Join Writers on Picket Lines, Reuters (Jul. 14, 2023, 12:09 PM), https://www.reuters.com/world/us/hollywood-actors-union-sets-strike-vote-thursday-talks-break-down-2023-07-13/. ↩︎
6. Id. ↩︎
7. Id. ↩︎
8. Id. ↩︎
9. Strike Notice and Order from SAG-AFTRA Nat’l Bd. to Members (Jul. 14, 2023) (on file with author). ↩︎
10. Andrew Dalton, The Hollywood Actors Strike Hits 100 Days. Why Hasn’t a Deal Been Reached and What’s Next? AP (Oct. 21, 2023, 5:20 PM), https://apnews.com/article/actors-strike-100-days-explained-hollywood-40e0e325f7c92b6853bdc01c4c54b08c. ↩︎
11. Id. ↩︎
12. Id. ↩︎
13. Id. ↩︎
14. Caroline Anders, Residuals Are a Key Issue for Hollywood Strikers. Here’s How They Work, Wash. Post (Jul. 15, 2023, 4:37 PM), https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/07/15/actors-strike-what-are-residuals/. ↩︎
15. Id. ↩︎
16. Id. (Background actors receive no residual payouts from streaming services. Though a select few residual payouts are in the millions, other actors report payouts worth only pennies). ↩︎
17. Id. ↩︎
18. Id. ↩︎
19. Dalton, supra note 10. ↩︎
20. Dalton, supra note 10. ↩︎
21. Press Release, SAG-AFTRA, Tentative Agreement Reached (Nov. 8, 2023) (on file with author). ↩︎
22. Id. ↩︎
23. Press Release, SAG-AFTRA, SAG-AFTRA Members Approve 2023 TV/Theatrical Contracts Tentative Agreement(Dec. 5, 2023) (on file with author). ↩︎
24. Brooks Barnes, Actors Ratify Deal With Hollywood Studios, With Reservations, N.Y. Times (Dec. 5, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/business/sag-aftra-actors-ratify.html?searchResultPosition=1. ↩︎
25. Id. (“…studios agreed last month to give actors a 7 percent first-year raise”). ↩︎
26. Memorandum of Agreement from SAG-AFTRA to Radio Artists and AMPTP (Nov. 10, 2023) (on file with author). ↩︎
27. Barnes, supra note 24. ↩︎
28. SAG-AFTRA, supra note 23. ↩︎
29. Barnes, supra note 24. ↩︎
30. Barnes, supra note 24. ↩︎
31. Barnes, supra note 24. ↩︎
32. Barnes, supra note 24. ↩︎