SAG-AFTRA to Begin AMPTP Talks on June 7

SAG-AFTRA will begin negotiations on a new basic agreement on June 7, the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced on Thursday.

The union will be the third to enter bargaining this year, after the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America.

The SAG-AFTRA contract expires on June 30, leaving time for just a few weeks of talks before the deadline.

“Both the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA are approaching this process as an opportunity to engage in thoughtful and interactive conversations that result in a mutually-beneficial deal,” the union and the AMPTP said in a joint statement on Thursday.

SAG-AFTRA, like the DGA, is said to be focused on winning a better formula for streaming residuals. The unions are trying to pry more data out of the studios, in hopes that shows that perform better on streaming can get paid a higher residual.

The WGA is also interested in that topic, though it has also placed more emphasis on issues like “mini-rooms” that are particular to TV writers.

The WGA negotiations are expected to resume Friday, and again on Monday. The WGA is currently seeking a strike authorization vote from its members, as it looks to increase its leverage ahead of the May 1 deadline.

The DGA is set to begin bargaining on May 10, and may be doing so while the writers are on strike.

The guilds are also seeking steep increases in minimums, in part simply to keep pace with inflation, which is still at 5%, though it was as high as 9.1% last year.

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