"I don't think we're going to see normalcy in the production process until sometime after January or February."The WGA's deal with studios achieved compromises on minimum wage increases, bonus payments for writers participating in hit shows, and guarantees that scripts using AI will not undercut human writers and their paychecks.
Many of these issues overlap with the actors' demands, and SAG-AFTRA negotiators will be poring over the fine details this week, ahead of their own talks with studios.These include steeper pay rises to counter rampant inflation, and an actual share of revenue for hit streaming shows. Studios will be wary that whatever they offer to actors is likely to be demanded by other Hollywood professions such as movie set crews and technicians, who have their own contract renewals due next year."I think basic wages going are going to be a huge roadblock towards the SAG deal in the next few weeks, because of pattern bargaining," said Handel.
SAG-AFTRA also has its own specific demands, such as restrictions on the use of remote, self-taped auditions, which became ubiquitous during the pandemic but are disliked by many actors.Still, Sunday's deal means SAG-AFTRA negotiators could meet with unions as soon as next week, for the first time since actors went on strike in July.But even"if things go smoothly -- which is a fool's assumption -- I still think it would take two to three weeks to get a SAG deal done...