SAG-AFTRA Says Fall Film Festival Buyers Will Have To Adhere To Union’s Terms To Make Deals

deadline.com:

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, confirmed Tuesday that fall festival buyers will need to agree to the terms proposed for the guild’s new contract before acquiring projects being promoted under an interim agreement. “The contract contains assumption provisions which require any party that acquires rights under that collective bargaining agreement to assume the obligation to pay the residuals that are required by the contract,” Crabtree-Ireland said today during an on-the-record chat with press on Zoom.

The meeting was part of an ongoing campaign on the guild’s part to demystify the interim agreements, and the guild’s thinking around them.

The agreements have proven a lightning-rod topic since the actors strike broke out last month, as some have questioned how projects from a company like A24, or to be distributed by the likes of New Line, can wind up on the same list as an ultra-low-budget indie, also wondering aloud whether the issuance of these agreements might prolong the strike.

Part of the intention of SAG-AFTRA in granting them, which Crabtree-Ireland underscored today, has been to keep members afloat in otherwise financially unstable times.