SAG-AFTRA Reaches Tentative Three-Year Agreement with AMPTP

SAG-AFTRA has reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on successor agreements covering motion pictures, scripted primetime dramatic television and new media production.

Significant improvements were secured in the residuals rate paid to performers for exhibition of their performances on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon. Under the new terms, actors will receive residuals for exhibition on subscription video on-demand platforms earlier, now after 90 days instead of after one year. The new formula delivers a 300% increase in residuals to performers within their first two years when their work is exhibited worldwide on Netflix.

Note: Daytime soap operas are under a separate contract that expires next year.

SAG-AFTRA release the list below of highlights from the tentative agreement:

Martha Greenhouse Dead at 91

Actress and union leader Martha Greenhouse died Jan. 5, SAG-AFTRA announced. She was 91.

Greenhouse’s TV and film credits included THE EDGE OF NIGHT, RYAN'S HOPE, THE DOCTORS AND THE NURSES, LAW & ORDER, The Stepford Wives and the original production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. She appeared in many plays on and off Broadway, including "Summer Brave," "Dear Me," and Jose Quintero’s "Our Town."

In 1975 she played Mrs. Huber on RYAN'S HOPE, a tenant in a building with no heat or hot water than Frank Ryan helps.

Greenhouse joined AFRA (the radio-only predecessor of AFTRA) in 1941 and the Screen Actors Guild in 1955 and became deeply involved in union activities. Highlights of her service include five terms as the president of AFTRA’s New York Local, from 1977-1982, and two terms on SAG’s National Board, from 1981-1987.

SAG and AFTRA Members Approve Merger

Creating Hollywood's largest entertainment union, members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have voted overwhelmingly to combine into a single bargaining unit. Read the press release from SAG-AFTRA below:

SAG, AFTRA Members Approve Merger to Form SAG-AFTRA
March 30, 2012

LOS ANGELES (March 30, 2012) — The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Screen Actors Guild are pleased to announce that members of both organizations have overwhelmingly voted to approve a merger, creating a new entity, SAG-AFTRA. SAG members voted 82 percent in favor of the merger. AFTRA members favored the merger with 86 percent, exceeding the 60 percent threshold needed for both unions' membership for passage.

AFTRA Board Says Yes To Merger With SAG

The National Board of Directors of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFL-CIO – a national union of more than 70,000 actors, broadcasters, singers, dancers, recording artist and other performers who work across the spectrum of media industries including television, radio, cable, sound recordings and digital media – on Saturday voted overwhelmingly to approve and recommend to the AFTRA membership a plan to merge with Screen Actors Guild.

The National Board met in a regularly scheduled meeting via videoconference in New York and Los Angeles to vote on the merger package put forward by the AFTRA and SAG Group for One Union (G1), which includes a Merger Agreement, Constitution and Dues Structure.

The vote was 94%-6% in favor.

AFTRA: Prospect Park Has Not Responded For The Past Month

AFTRA, the union that represents daytime actors including ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE, has released a statement regarding Prospect Park's decision to suspend production of the soaps.

Read it below and let us know what you think.