After the writers’ union wrapped a surprise deal with studios and streamers over the weekend, SAG-AFTRA announced that it will return to the bargaining table by the end of the month.
The performers’ union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers resume negotiations on April 27, the two parties said in a joint statement on Monday. The sides previously broke off talks on March 15 after failing to reach an agreement in their first scheduled bargaining period.
The fast turnaround on the WGA deal, just three weeks into negotiations, allowed the two parties to schedule their return to the bargaining table sooner than expected. SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP had previously been targeting early June to return to negotiations, according to a source.
This scheduling will give the union and the AMPTP two weeks of leeway before management heads into negotiations with the Directors Guild of America on May 11. SAG-AFTRA’s current three-year contract expires on June 30.
SAG-AFTRA kicked off 2026’s contract negotiations season with talks that began on Feb. 9. While labor leaders kept specific proposals under wraps, union officials told members that they wanted to establish further protections against the use of generative AI in covered work, increase compensation for members and continue to make adjustments to the casting process.
Even after extending negotiations one week, on March 15 SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP announced just after the conclusion of the 98th Academy Awards that they needed more time to reach a deal. They called their previous bargaining sessions “productive.”
When talks resume on April 27, industry observers will be watching to see if SAG-AFTRA will prolong the term of its contract, as the WGA just did, to four years instead of the typical three. In 2023, both unions struck for more than 100 days in a bid to improve compensation in the streaming era and establish guardrails around the use of generative AI in Hollywood.
SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is leading the negotiations for the union, while AMPTP president Greg Hessinger is heading up talks for studios and streamers.
