Full stop for the Hollywood strike

Actors and major studios in Hollywood have reached an agreement to end the strike that has paralyzed film and television production in the United States for several months, costing the American economy billions of dollars, announced the actors' union SAG-AFTRA. An "agreement in principle" has been reached after 118 days of the actors' strike, in which they demanded better salaries in an industry disrupted by streaming and guarantees regarding artificial intelligence. The exact details of the agreement have not yet been disclosed, but "additional information will be communicated" on Friday, according to the union. The 160,000 actors, dancers, and stunt performers who are members of SAG-AFTRA must still approve their new collective contract through a vote before the big stars and extras can return to the film sets and allow the resumption of filming. This is generally considered a formality. Hollywood's big names have celebrated the end of the strike. "Perseverance pays off!" exclaimed Jamie Lee Curtis on Instagram. "I am very happy that we have reached an agreement," said Zac Efron on the red carpet at the premiere of the film "Iron Claw." Negotiations with the management took place almost daily in the last two weeks, often with the chief executives of Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros, and Universal in person, as the need to end this social movement became pressing. Apart from a minority of celebrities, most actors who were not filming were increasingly struggling to make ends meet. Some turned to other jobs. The studios, in turn, faced huge gaps in their release schedules for the coming year and beyond, with major productions like the second part of the "Dune" saga and the "Stranger Things" series being postponed. The industry has just gone through a historic double union action: when the actors went on strike in mid-July, the screenwriters had already halted work in early May. Hollywood had not experienced such a crisis since the 1960s. In total, the industry's paralysis in recent months has cost at least six billion dollars, according to recent estimates by economists. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass welcomed a "fair agreement," noting that the strike had affected "millions of people" across the country. Apart from the A-list actors and showrunners, most of them were struggling to make a decent living in the era of streaming. Not only because streaming platforms produce series with many fewer episodes per season than television but also because Netflix and other streaming companies have drastically reduced the royalties paid for each rerun of films and series. Unlike television, where a rerun can be monetized based on advertising tied to audience figures, a work broadcast via streaming was subject to a flat fee, regardless of the program's popularity. The studios finally reached an agreement with the screenwriters at the end of September, and most of them have been back to work since then. However, negotiations with the actors dragged on. According to industry reports, a compromise has been reached regarding the minimum wage, which will increase by approximately 8% compared to the previous three-year agreement - the largest increase in decades, although it does not meet the initial demands of the actors. As for streaming, a bonus system for actors appearing in successful series or films will be implemented.