The Strike:

This month the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) avoided a strike and reached an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The agreement reached by the two organization is a landmark deal 128 years in the making. The agreement has been widely hailed as a great victory for the IATSE group that encompasses 13 west coast Unions. While the decision is not industry wide and only directly effects about 40,000 union workers, it is a good sign of more change on the horizon.

What Changed in the Agreement:

·      Achievement of a living wage for the lowest-paid earners

·      Improved wages and working conditions for streaming

·      Retroactive wage Increases of 3 percent annually

·      Increased meal period penalties

·      Daily rest periods of 10 hours without exclusions

·      Weekend rest periods of 54 hours

·      Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday Holiday added to schedule

·      Adoption of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives  

What it Means:

With a focus specifically being put on the people who are lowest on the totem pole and are often newest to the union, this spells good news for many people fresh out of college and entering the industry. Recent college graduates and young crew members have always faced borderline inhumane working conditions with some days running as long as 16 hours.

While their days aren’t shorter than anybody else’s, they rarely make more than 150 dollars a day for their efforts. For many people it is precisely this mix of overworked and underpaid that deters them and ultimately stops them from pursuing dreams of a career in filmmaking. Working as a PA or low-level crew worker certainly isn’t the only path into the industry, but for anybody hoping to be working on set it is pretty much unavoidable.

How it Affects Me: 

For me personally, being on set is something I enjoy and plan to do in my career. When I move to whatever city I ultimately decide on, I know I will spend some time in a lower-level crew position. While this decision will likely not affect me directly, it represents a shift in the industry that seems to have been coming for a while. Hopefully more studios and unions will continue to follow suit and we can continue to improve the conditions on set.