Representatives for the striking SAG-AFTRA actors union and the major studios are set to meet for a fifth time today as they look to resolve a labor standoff that’s nearing its third month.
The sides last met on Monday. Wednesday’s meeting will continue an alternate-day pattern of face-to-face talks that began when negotiating teams finally sat down with each other for the first time last week.
The parties worked independently on Tuesday, according to the union.
Bargaining sessions also took place last Monday, Wednesday and Friday — the sides’ first talks since SAG-AFTRA walked off the job in mid-July.
Wednesday’s talks will come two days after the Writers Guild of America overwhelmingly ratified a new three-year labor deal with the studios, closing the book on a strike that began May 2.
The writers contract is likely to be used as a template on some issues during negotiations between the studios and SAG-AFTRA — although actors are seeking steeper increases in salary.
The WGA deal includes stepped increases of minimum salaries that jumped by 5% upon ratification, 4% in May 2024 and 3.5% in May 2025. There are also increases in health and pension contributions.
The writers contract also includes restrictions on studios’ use of artificial intelligence, barring AI from writing or rewriting literary material and preventing AI-generated material from being considered source material, meaning it can’t “undermine a writer’s credit.”
In addition, the writers deal includes a new residual formula for streaming program that boosts pay for particularly successful programs.
SAG-AFTRA represents about 160,000 actors.
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