Studios and Hollywood Union Reach Tentative Deal, Averting TV, Film Strike

Hollywood studios and the union representing tens of thousands of Hollywood crew members reached a tentative new deal Saturday night, narrowly avoiding a work stoppage that could have ground most television and film production to a halt just as it had finally returned to pre-pandemic levels. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the union that represents 60,000 workers including cinematographers, costumers, editors, hairstylists, set builders, prop makers, grips and other behind-the-scenes employees, said late Saturday that it had reached an tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the organization that represents hundreds of TV and film production companies including Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Netflix. “This is a Hollywood ending,” said IATSE president Matthew Loeb in a statement. “We went toe to toe with some of the richest and most powerful entertainment and tech companies in the world, and we have now reached an agreement with the AMPTP that meets our members’ needs.” IATSE officials told members Saturday night that "everything achieved was because you, the members, stood up and gave us the power to change the course of these negotiations. Our solidarity, at both the leadership and rank and file level, was the primary reason that no local was left behind and every priority was addressed." The new deal includes 10-hour turnaround times between shifts, retroactive scale wage increases of 3% annually and "improved wages and working conditions for streaming," the IATSE officials said. TV, Film Workers Set Oct. 18 Strike Date as Negotiations With Studios Stall The agreement—which will still need to be ratified by union members in the coming days—comes as a sigh of relief across the industry, which had been bracing for a work stoppage that would have brought most Hollywood production to a standstill just as it reached pre-pandemic levels of production. IATSE union members had authorized a strike nearly unanimously in early October, and this week had set Monday as its deadline to strike if a new agreement had not been reached. The strike date was intended to help accelerate continuing negotiations by giving them a new sense of urgency, Loeb said at the time. What was at stake The primary driver behind the strike threat hinged on disagreements over how crew members are compensated for their work on streaming TV and film productions, as well the quality of life they experience while working on those productions. Workers wanted higher pay from streaming platforms, pay scales for which are lower due to being negotiated before streamers had the market position they do now. IATSE also said that an insatiable demand for programming from streaming services and the back-up of production due to the pandemic has intensified the deterioration of working conditions, including grueling around-the-clock hours and around-the-calendar schedules. After Wednesday's strike date announcement, broadcasters had begun to prepare for the possibility of the work stoppage. “We always have contingency plans,” Frances Berwick, chairman of entertainment networks, NBCUniversal television and streaming, told Adweek last Wednesday during the Convergent TV Summit. “We deeply value our IATSE production crews, and we are very much committed to keeping this industry working. I think everyone is motivated to keep things going.”