AFTRA Sets Up New Contract With Hollywood Studios
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and Hollywood producers have come to an agreement and instilled a new three-year contract that will force many of the larger actors unions to follow in their footsteps in order to avoid a strike that could seriously affect the business of Hollywood.
AFTRA stated that the new deal has established higher fees for any content that is downloaded and residual payment for ad-supported clips. It also sets a deadline for developing a system for actors to consent to the online use of clips containing their images or voice. “It’s a terrific deal. It’s a victory for actors,” Roberta Reardon, president of the 70,000-member union stated in an interview.
She said she hoped the agreement will serve as a model for the larger Screen Actors Guild, which was set to resume its stalled contract talks Wednesday. “I hope SAG can use this as a template,” Reardon said. “Actors want to work. This town wants to work.” The AFTRA deal, involving a handful of prime-time TV shows such as “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Rules of Engagement,” came after 3 a.m. Wednesday, the second-straight, late-night session since bargaining began May 7.
The agreement boosts minimum wages by 3.5 percent in the first year of the contract, 3 percent in the second and 3.5 percent in the third. It also sets a 90-day deadline after ratification to develop rules that would have actors consent to use of clips in a commercial market similar to iTunes, Reardon said.
The formula would likely involve umbrella consent for an entire TV series. “It won’t be clip by clip,” she said.
The deal also left in place the current formula for residual payments for appearances in DVDs — an area that SAG is trying to improve. “It was very clear from the outset that they were not going to change the formula in any profound way,” Reardon said of the studios.