SAG-AFTRA will approval fewer projects to continue during the strike

In an act of solidarity with the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) will no longer grant independent projects under WGA contracts permission to continue production during the strike in course. On July 14 SAG-AFTRA announced through a statement on its website that going forward, projects covered by the WGA will now be excluded from its Interim Agreement policy, which allows approved independent productions with no direct connection to the actors union to continue filming.

According to the statement, the decision was made after several meetings with the WGA along with the “recommendation of our NED and lead negotiator” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. “The WGA has informed us that this modification will help them execute their attack strategy, and we believe it does not undermine the usefulness and effectiveness of ours,” the guild said. “It’s a win-win change.”

“This means that, going forward, for productions that take place in the US, SAG-AFTRA will only grant interim agreements for projects not covered by the WGA,” the SAG-AFTRA statement continues. “And our staff will continue to investigate each request for an interim agreement to ensure that only true independent productions are included.”

On 200 movies and TV series (PDF) They have been granted permission to continue filming under tentative agreements since the strike began on July 14. Following criticism of the large number of projects approved, SAG-AFTRA explained that the interim contracts do not conflict with the strike because these productions already adhere to union-driven labor terms and are not directly associated with the Alliance. of Film and Television Producers.

The approved contracts will remain in force, and in accordance with Deadlineonly 15-20 percent of independent feature films covered by SAG-AFTRA are also covered by WGA.

“We created the Transitional Agreements for various reasons, all of them aimed at protecting the interests of our affiliates and members of sister unions, so that day laborers, interpreters and crew members can continue working and paying their bills, demonstrating to the AMPTP that independent producers are eager to for working with our members under these terms,” ​​the SAG-AFTRA bargaining committee said in its statement. “The action of the strike is evolving every day. We are adapting in real time to continue to protect our members while collaborating with our sister unions in the fight for our common cause.”

(Disclosure: The editorial staff at The Verge is also unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.)