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Actors Ratify 3-year Contract, Ending Hollywood's Labor Turmoil

(FILES) SAG-AFTRA members and supporters walk the picket line as members of the Screen Actors Guild strike in New York on July 19, 2023. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
(FILES) SAG-AFTRA members and supporters walk the picket line as members of the Screen Actors Guild strike in New York on July 19, 2023. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
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Actors Ratify 3-year Contract, Ending Hollywood's Labor Turmoil

(FILES) SAG-AFTRA members and supporters walk the picket line as members of the Screen Actors Guild strike in New York on July 19, 2023. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
(FILES) SAG-AFTRA members and supporters walk the picket line as members of the Screen Actors Guild strike in New York on July 19, 2023. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)

Members of the SAG-AFTRA actors union approved a three-year contract with major studios on Tuesday, formally ending six months of Hollywood labor disputes that halted film and television production, Reuters reported.
SAG-AFTRA said 78% of those who voted supported the deal with Netflix Inc, Walt Disney Co and other members of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
Just 38% of eligible SAG-AFTRA members cast a ballot, the union said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. SAG-AFTRA represents roughly 160,000 actors and other media professionals.
The new contract provides for pay raises and streaming bonuses that union leaders said amounted to more than $1 billion over three years. It also includes guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in filmmaking, though some actors complained that the AI protections were not sufficient.
"This is a golden age for SAG-AFTRA, and our union has never been more powerful," the union's president, "The Nanny" actor Fran Drescher, said in a statement.
SAG-AFTRA members walked off the job in July and reached a tentative agreement with major studios in November. Actors started returning to work immediately after the preliminary deal.
Film and television writers also went on strike this year, walking out ahead of the actors union. After a five-month walkout, the writers approved a new contract in October with 99% of the vote.
Some actors had objected to AI provisions in the contract. The deal requires studios to obtain permission from celebrities to use their digital likenesses and to pay them for the use. Critics argued that the language allows creation of "synthetic performers" that could eliminate the need for many human actors.
The dual strikes shut down a large swath of film and TV production, halted late-night talk shows and forced broadcast networks to fill their fall schedules with repeats and reality shows. Major movies including "Dune: Part Two" and Marvel's "Thunderbolts" also were delayed.
Hollywood studios welcomed the contract ratification, saying the agreement offered "historic gains and protections."
"With this vote, the industry and the jobs it supports will be able to return in full force," the AMPTP said in a statement.
SAG-AFTRA noted that other Hollywood unions representing crew members, musicians and drivers will start negotiations on new contracts next year.
"They will be able to use our groundbreaking gains as leverage in their own bargaining efforts," SAG-AFTRA said.

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Alfonso Cuarón, Cate Blanchett Bring Series ‘Disclaimer’ to Venice Film Festival 

Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the mini-series "Disclaimer", out of competition, at the 81st Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the mini-series "Disclaimer", out of competition, at the 81st Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Alfonso Cuarón, Cate Blanchett Bring Series ‘Disclaimer’ to Venice Film Festival 

Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the mini-series "Disclaimer", out of competition, at the 81st Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the mini-series "Disclaimer", out of competition, at the 81st Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy August 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Alfonso Cuarón is the first to admit that he does not know how to make a television series. He might even be too old to learn how, he said.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker has technically now made a series, the seven-part AppleTV+ show “Disclaimer,” four episodes of which premiered Thursday at the Venice Film Festival. But he did it his way: Like a film.

Based on Renée Knight’s 2015 book of the same name, “Disclaimer” is a psychological thriller about a documentarian and journalist, Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett), who discovers she’s a character in a novel that reveals her darkest secret.

Cuarón, Blanchett and Kevin Kline all made the journey to the Italian film festival to debut and speak about the show before it begins streaming on Oct. 11.

“I read the book and immediately in my mind I saw a film, but I didn’t know how to make that film,” Cuarón, the director of films including “Gravity” and “Roma,” said in a news conference Thursday. “It was way too long. I could not shape it as such.”

It was only later, he said, that he thought it might work in longer form, inspired by predecessors like Rainer Werner Fassbinder, David Lynch and Krzysztof Kieślowski.

“I was intrigued and that was the point of departure,” Cuarón said.

He started writing with one name in mind for Catherine: Blanchett, terrified that she might say no. Not only did she not say no, she also was the one who suggested Kline for a British character. Sacha Baron Cohen plays her husband in the show and Kodi Smit-McPhee plays her son.

All soon realized that approaching it as a film, and shooting it as a film, would take much longer than a normal series. He even enlisted two cinematographers, Emmanuel Lubezki and Bruno Delbonnel, to add a distinct visual language to the different perspectives in the story. All told, it took about a year.

“It was a really long process,” Cuarón said. “And I really feel for the actors because they were stuck with the characters for way too long.”

Blanchett laughed that they were “still recovering.”

The final three episodes will screen Friday at the festival. Though the festival is most known for its feature film premieres, it does play host to select series as well. This year those also include Joe Wright’s Mussolini biopic “M: Son of the Century,” Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The New Years” and Thomas Vinterberg’s “Families Like Ours.”