SAG-AFTRA Approves Deal Allowing Actors to Appear on Multiple Shows

variety.com:

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterYou might start seeing a lot more of your favorite TV actors, as their union approved a deal on Saturday allowing them to appear in multiple shows at the same time.SAG-AFTRA has been lobbying for a decade to curtail so-called “exclusivity” agreements, which block TV series regulars from taking other jobs while they are on hiatus.In the agreement approved by the union’s national board on Saturday, producers will be required to give TV actors a three-month window after each season in which they can take any job they want.

That means that stars of shows may start appearing more often as guest stars — or even as regulars — on shows on other platforms and networks.

The new agreement will apply to work under contracts entered into on or after Jan. 1. The agreement also includes a limitation on the reasons a producer may stop a series regular from accepting an appearance on another program.SAG-AFTRA explained the financial component as following: “An increase in the exclusivity money breaks from $15,000 per week or per episode for half-hour programs and $20,000 per week or per episode for one hour or longer programs to $65,000 per week or per episode for half-hour programs and $70,000 per week or per hour for one hour or longer programs.”The deal came about after the union forced the issue, with a bill in Sacramento that would have essentially eliminated exclusivity provisions outright.

That bill, AB 437, appeared on its way to passage in the Legislature, prompting the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — which bargains on behalf of the studios — to seek a negotiated solution.The bill will now be withdrawn.The Motion Picture Association had opposed the legislation, which it.