Hollywood teams and studios reach tentative contract agreement

The union that represents most behind-the-scenes film and television crews has reached a tentative agreement with the studios for about 50,000 of its members, making another major strike that halts production after a year of labor turmoil in Hollywood.

The two sides announced the three-year agreement in a joint statement late on Tuesday.

The union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, said in an email to members, who have yet to vote to approve the deal, that the deal includes the pay raises and artificial intelligence protections they fought for.

The contract, known as the Basic Agreement, affects about 50,000 crew members who belong to 13 different local unions based on the West Coast, including art directors, set designers, editors, camera technicians, costume designers, hair stylists and makeup artists.

A separate agreement affecting about 20,000 crew members across the country is still under negotiation.

The tiresome writers and actor strikesIt is IATSE 2021 Lectures which was well past the contract’s expiration date and nearly resulted in a strike, raised fears that 2024 would bring more work stoppages in an industry that still not fully returned to work after being closed for much of 2023.

Actors including Mark Ruffalo and Kerry Washington sent a letter to AMPTP last week asking for a fair contract for the teams.

Several individual branches had already reached separate agreements on issues that were exclusive to them. The Basic Agreement affects crew members in different jobs.

IATSE reached an agreement on Tuesday night with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, streaming services and production companies including Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. It’s the same alliance that struggled to reach an agreement with writers and actors during prolonged strikes last year. But the tentative Basic Agreement agreement comes almost a month before the previous contract expires.

The letter to IATSE members said that more details about the tentative agreement will be released later in the week, but “it includes new protections around Artificial Intelligence, including language that ensures that no employee is required to provide AI warnings in any way that may result in the displacement of any covered employee.”

It also includes scale increases of 7%, 4% and 3.5% over the three-year period, tripling hours for workers exceeding 15 hours a day, and studio payments to help offset the union’s healthcare shortfall. insurance quote, the letter said.