SAG-AFTRA announced Monday that it will no longer grant interim agreements to independent projects that were written under a Writers Guild of America contract.
The union has already given permission for 207 independent projects to continue to film during the strike, including ones with stars like Jason Bateman, Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey.
The union argues that the agreements support the strike, because they involve independent producers who have agreed to all of the union’s demands. But they have caused considerable backlash within the union, as some members feel they undermine the strike’s overall impact.
Monday’s announcement was the first concession to that backlash. The union agreed that going forward, it will not approve projects that were written under a WGA contract and will be produced in the U.S.
“We have been advised by the WGA that this modification will assist them in executing their strike strategy, and we believe it does not undermine the utility and effectiveness of ours,” the guild announced Monday. “It is a win-win change.”
The move is a signal of solidarity with the WGA strike, which began on May 2. The WGA strike rules forbid members from engaging in “writing services,” but do not preclude WGA-covered scripts from being produced.
The SAG-AFTRA decision will not affect the 207 projects that have already been approved. In order to obtain an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA, the producers must show they do not have financing from companies in the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. They must also agree to the latest terms proposed by SAG-AFTRA before the strike was called on July 13.
The contracts will ultimately be modified to conform to the whatever agreement the AMPTP reaches with SAG-AFTRA.
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