The Writers Strike Is Nearly Over—So What Does That Mean For the Actors Strike?

The Writers Guild of America strike of 2023 is nearly over, but does that mean Hollywood is getting back to business as usual?

While the WGA reached a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and can get back to work as soon as full membership votes on it (as long as they vote in favor of it), actors are not quite in the same boat.

Since July 14, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike has been going in solidarity with the WGA strike, and the two groups have many of the same demands of major corporate studios, but in the end, the strikes are two separate ones. That means SAG-AFTRA needs to do its own negotiating with the AMPTP and reach its own settlement. While experts expect that they’ll use some of the WGA deal as a template, it’s only the starting point.

The SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee congratulates the WGA Negotiating Committee.

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To our fellow union siblings who serve on the WGA Negotiating Committee, we extend our heartfelt congratulations on securing a tentative agreement with the AMPTP.

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— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) September 25, 2023

SAG-AFTRA congratulated the WGA on securing an agreement on X (formerly Twitter), and added “we look forward to reviewing the terms of the WGA and AMPTP’s tentative agreement. And we remain ready to resume our own negotiations with the AMPTP as soon as they are prepared to engage on our proposals in a meaningful way. Until then, we continue to stand strong and unified.”

In a statement, it continued, saying, “Since the day the WGA strike began, SAG-AFTRA members have stood alongside the writers on the picket lines. We remain on strike in our TV/Theatrical contract and continue to urge the studio and streamer CEOs and the AMPTP to return to the table and make the fair deal that our members deserve and demand.”

For now, Hollywood is still on pause. Writers will soon return to their jobs (hopefully with much better deals), but actors are still looking for a deal that will offer them a living wage, residuals from streaming, and safety from their likenesses being used via artificial intelligence.