SAG-AFTRA, Studios Extend Contract Talks Into Next Week

SAG-AFTRA and the major studios have agreed to push contract negotiations into next week.

The performers’ union began bargaining on Feb. 9, marking its first talks with the studios since the 2023 strike. The sessions were originally expected to run through March 6, leaving a one-week window for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to prepare for talks with the Writers Guild of America, which are set to begin March 16.

“SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP will extend negotiations into the week of March 9, and remain under a mutually agreed upon media blackout,” both sides said in a joint statement on Friday.

SAG-AFTRA began negotiating a new contract unusually early in February, even though the current agreement doesn’t expire until June 30. Key issues under discussion include artificial intelligence, streaming residuals and health and pension funding, as well as more technical matters like exclusivity windows for series regulars.

If the two sides cannot reach a deal, they will likely end talks and resume in June closer to the expiration date of the current agreement. SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin will lead the talks alongside National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, while Greg Hessinger leads the studio side’s negotiations.

The Directors Guild of America is scheduled to start its negotiations on May 11, while the Writers Guild of America contract expires on May 1. All three guilds are contending with fallout from a sharp slowdown in work since 2022, with the WGA and DGA facing significant annual deficits in their health funds due to both reduced production and rising healthcare costs.

With shoot dates in Los Angeles Country down 46.5% in 2025 as compared to 2022, thousands of entertainment workers from actors to writers to crew members have struggled to find employment since the 2023 strikes. The union wants to avoid a strike on consecutive contract cycles to protect its members and their bank accounts.

Sources told TheWrap that with pressure increasing to make streaming services profitable and to fulfill pledges to theaters to ramp up movie production, the AMPTP studios want 2026 to be the last year for this decade that they have to worry about a work stoppage that could cause the cost of major productions to spiral.

While the three-year contract cycles in Hollywood have enabled unions to keep up with the rapid changes in the entertainment industry, not every union has such frequent negotiations. SAG-AFTRA and the WGA may be reluctant to give up the three-year contract as the industry continues to evolve with new forms of AI and changing bargaining agreements.

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