SAG-AFTRA leaders are beginning the process of selling their new studio contract to the membership, amid lingering concerns about artificial intelligence and the merger of two pension funds.
The deal, unveiled on Monday, allows studios to use synthetic performers only if they bring “significant additional value” to a project. It also requires studios to notify and bargain with the union if they license performances for AI training.
But for some members, that language is too flexible and far from reassuring.
“Who determines that? A studio lawyer — that’s who determines ‘significant additional value,’” said Erik Passoja, a former co-chair of the union’s L.A. New Technology Committee. “And if a studio licenses your performance to a third party, they have to give written notice and meet to discuss it. No consent. No compensation floor. The union gets a meeting. The performer gets nothing.”
The fear of being replaced by AI was a key issue behind the 2023 strike, and though the union was able to win significant protections in that agreement, the concern has not gone away. Since then, London-based Particle6 has touted “Tilly Norwood” as a movie-star-in-waiting, and other AI companies are racing to develop films with fully synthetic characters.
SAG-AFTRA went into this round of negotiations in February with the aim of driving up the price of using a synthetic performer — potentially with a required payment to a union fund — such that studios would generally opt for human actors.
Though the union did not achieve that goal, the studios did agree to a broad principle in favor of human performances, as well as an arbitration provision with potential monetary penalties for violations of the contract.
“When you take all the components together, the companies can and will use synthetics only in edge cases,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s executive director, in an interview on Tuesday.
“We feel rock solid about how we’re approaching it,” said Sean Astin, the union’s president. “They have a very high bar to clear before they have agreed to use it. And in that case, they have to tell us about it and bargain with us.”
On Monday, the SAG-AFTRA board voted 89% in favor of sending the contract to members for ratification. Leadership will hold a series of Zoom meetings this week and later in the month to explain the deal points.
The contract also includes a plan to merge the SAG and AFTRA pension funds by Jan. 1, 2028 — some 16 years after the two unions merged. The studios have agreed to contribute an extra 1% toward the combined plan, which will amount to about $38 million over the final two years of the contract.
The pension merger has been controversial in the past, as some fear it will weaken the SAG plan, and it prompted at least some of the board members to vote no.
“I am against the plan because it is bailing out AFTRA’s retirement fund using SAG participants’ money, which causes great financial risk to the SAG pension plan,” said Joanna Cassidy, a member of the national board.
Crabtree-Ireland argued that analysis has shown the merger will put both plans on stronger footing, and that all participants will end up better off.
“It’s just a red herring for people to say it’s going to endanger the plan,” he said. “The last thing we would want to do is anything that would jeopardize the plan. Nobody would do that.”
The merger would solve the issue of “split earnings,” whereby members earn income attributable to both plans, but not enough to qualify for pension credits in one or both. Crabtree-Ireland said about 1,000 members have that problem.
Astin said that the studios were also invested in helping to stabilize the structure of the two plans.
“They realized the way our plans were operating was not optimal,” he said. “They stepped up to put this money in there.”
The deal has a slew of other provisions, including improvements on residuals and 3% annual increases in minimum rates.
Among the terms is a provision encouraging virtual interviews during the casting process, instead of relying solely on self-taped auditions. The deal requires producers to make a good-faith attempt to accommodate performers who request actual back-and-forth interaction, in what Astin described as a “substantial change to the culture” of casting.
Members will have until June 4 to submit their votes on ratification.
