SAG-AFTRA Releases Full Tentative Contract Ahead of Vote

Following the 118-day actors strike, the Screen Actors Guild negotiating committee has released the full contract and terms of their tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The contract, which is 128 pages, includes additional benefit plan funding, updated requirements for intimacy coordinators on set, and guidelines for the use of generative artificial intelligence.

The release of the memorandum of agreement comes ahead of the Dec. 5 deal ratification deadline to vote on the updated proposals.

Spearheaded by SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the deal has been lauded as “the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union,” with a majority 86 percent of the union board voting to approval the deal. But a small contingent of SAG-AFTRA members have been unimpressed with some changes, most specifically, the language surrounding AI and the use of digital replicas.

Sebastian Ryder, a co-chair of the Background Artists Coalition, previously told Rolling Stone that the AI provisions released by SAG-AFTRA still leave room for studios to take advantage of actors and their images.

“Every actor in the world knows that even if you’re down to your last nickel and they’re offering you $1,000, you don’t do that because you need to maintain control of your image,” Ryder said. “It’s our livelihood. It’s our calling card. It’s what makes us money. So now in this agreement, we’re being asked to sign that away. It just doesn’t feel right.”

Crabtree-Ireland pushed back against claims that the negotiating committee settled under studio or actor pressure, saying union leaders reached “peak leverage.”

The release of the MOA is also the first time union members have been able to read a full agreement prior to ratification, according to Crabtree Ireland, who told Rolling Stone the committee was “pushing” to try and get it done prior to the vote.

If the tentative deal is approved following the Dec. 5 deadline, it will run until June 30, 2026.

Following the 118-day actors strike, the Screen Actors Guild negotiating committee has released the full contract and terms of their tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The contract, which is 128 pages, includes additional benefit plan funding, updated requirements for intimacy coordinators on set, and guidelines for the use of generative artificial intelligence.

The release of the memorandum of agreement comes ahead of the Dec. 5 deal ratification deadline to vote on the updated proposals.

Spearheaded by SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the deal has been lauded as “the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union,” with a majority 86 percent of the union board voting to approval the deal. But a small contingent of SAG-AFTRA members have been unimpressed with some changes, most specifically, the language surrounding AI and the use of digital replicas.

Sebastian Ryder, a co-chair of the Background Artists Coalition, previously told Rolling Stone that the AI provisions released by SAG-AFTRA still leave room for studios to take advantage of actors and their images.

“Every actor in the world knows that even if you’re down to your last nickel and they’re offering you $1,000, you don’t do that because you need to maintain control of your image,” Ryder said. “It’s our livelihood. It’s our calling card. It’s what makes us money. So now in this agreement, we’re being asked to sign that away. It just doesn’t feel right.”

Crabtree-Ireland pushed back against claims that the negotiating committee settled under studio or actor pressure, saying union leaders reached “peak leverage.”

The release of the MOA is also the first time union members have been able to read a full agreement prior to ratification, according to Crabtree Ireland, who told Rolling Stone the committee was “pushing” to try and get it done prior to the vote.

If the tentative deal is approved following the Dec. 5 deadline, it will run until June 30, 2026.