SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee heads toward final vote – The Hollywood Reporter

The SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee is meeting to discuss the studios’ latest offer, with talks likely to lead to a final vote by the union on the contract.

Continuing its talks from Tuesday night on a recent proposal from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the negotiating team met around 11 a.m. Wednesday. It could, but a union-side source said the group was currently voting on the final package the team would send to AMPTP President Carol Lombardini to see if management would sign off. The source added that there would be a final adjustment on the union’s agreement on generative artificial intelligence to send to AMPTP, which is not expected to be a deal-breaker.

Shortly after the negotiating committee — 17 voting members and 17 alternates who act on the basis of general consensus — tallies their final votes on the deal, it will announce to members whether they support it. A separate union-side source says. .

Several sources were hopeful that a final vote and agreement could be reached on Wednesday. According to multiple sources with knowledge of the negotiations, SAG leadership expects the negotiating committee to vote unanimously to support the agreement it has reached with AMPTP.

The negotiating committee discussed the companies’ latest offer for 10 hours on Tuesday, the group reported to members that night. “We appreciate your patience and cooperation while we finish our work,” he said.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, on an earnings call Tuesday, called the studio’s offer “final and final” and said it “met all of the union’s goals.” “We recognize that we need our creative partners to feel valued and rewarded and look forward to getting back into the business of telling great stories on both sides,” he added. Meanwhile, in an interview with CNBC that same day, Disney CEO Bob Iger said he was “hopeful” that the actors’ deal would be revealed soon. He added of the 2024 film slate, “Obviously, we’d like to try to preserve the summer of movies, the whole industry is focused on that. We don’t have a lot of time to do that.”

But the negotiating committee’s vote is only one step in a larger process. According to the SAG-AFTRA constitution, all national multiemployer collective bargaining agreements—such as TV/theatrical deals—must be approved by the union’s national board and then ratified by the membership.

Kim Masters and Rebecca Keegan contributed reporting.