Roughly 1 in 5 Films with a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement Wouldn’t Get One Now
Brian Welk
On average, between 15 and 20 percent of the projects that previously signed and qualified for a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement would no longer be eligible under the guild’s newly modified policy that excludes WGA-covered projects produced in the U.S.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director and lead negotiator, shared the general figure as part of a Tuesday press conference clarifying the changes. Since more than 200 movies and shows have signed the interim agreements to-date, that assumes roughly 30-40 of them got in just at the nick of time. They will not have their interim agreements rescinded, but the shakeup will affect pending agreements.
The change in policy on a go-forward basis was to further align the two guilds as the dual strike wages on. Crabtree-Ireland maintained that his modified interim agreement policy is still “viable and effective” in SAG’s fight against the AMPTP and a “win-win” for both the actors and writers.
As a very basic explanation, a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement allows for actors to work on a project with a non-AMPTP production company, so long as said production company abides by the the same parameters SAG is seeking with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers. Such acting gigs would not be considered crossing the picket line.
The updated SAG-AFTRA interim agreement policy still leaves movies that are set to premiere at the fall film festivals (like Venice and Toronto) in limbo, though some — like Luc Besson’s “DogMan” and Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” — have already been approved. Those do not need a production interim agreement, but may be seeking a promotional one. As part of the strike, SAG-AFTRA actors are not allowed to promote their projects. Requests for promotional interim agreements are a relatively small batch of applications, Crabtree-Ireland said. SAG-AFTRA is considering interim-agreement requests in the order in which they were received and is not giving priority to timely festival films.
Crabtree-Ireland also set out to suppress fear that streamers would not acquire content that had qualified for an interim agreement. Those that do will have to abide by the policies — including paying residuals and revenue sharing — should they platform the shows and films while the strike is ongoing. Crabtree-Ireland suspected that could help smaller, independent movies get distribution directly into theaters.
SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July 14; the WGA has been picketing since May 2. The writers guild hasn’t handed out any interim agreements. That jives with history, Crabtree-Ireland told IndieWire, and the two guilds are in different positions. SAG, with the much larger membership, has actors currently working under different contracts (in video games, podcasting, or under the Network Code agreement, etc.) and the interim agreements fit with the group’s “strategic posture.”
The updated interim-agreement policy comes as the WGA and AMPTP have returned to the negotiating table, which Crabtree-Ireland said is a sign for “cautious optimism” that his negotiations with studios can soon resume. But he said that the AMPTP has not made contact with the guild to come back to the table.
