Actors’ guild interim agreements get indie films made

The Future. Despite the ongoing actors strike, SAG-AFTRA has issued over 100 interim agreements that give select indie productions the green light to return to work. While the deals are a godsend for small productions and a quick fix in the short term, they could complicate things down the road.

Back in action
The interim agreements allow small non-AMPTP studios and independently funded projects to continue filming so long as their producers agree to SAG’s terms.

• The agreements’ terms come from SAG-AFTRA’s last counter-offer before talks broke down, including raises for actors and stunt performers, better contributions to health and pension funds, revenue sharing demands, and AI use guidelines.
• Some actors pilloried the agreements, arguing they’ll allow producers to wait out the strike for longer. 
• SAG-AFTRA replied that producers’ acceptance of these deals proved SAG’s terms were reasonable and could help secure a better deal with the AMPTP.

Double vision
A permanent deal between the guilds will take precedence over interim agreements, which worries the producers who accept them because they’ll have to… well, honor the terms of those agreements, which are likely more generous to actors than a large-scale agreement will be.

But hey, that’s show business. Producers, of all people, should know that.