SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Friday SAG-AFTRA approved a deal with major film studios, officially ending the nearly four month-long actors strike. That means film sets and actors are getting back to work.
You may have seen Mark Christopher Lawrence in dozens of movies and television shows like Chuck, Seinfeld, Terminator 2, and Fear of a Black Hat.
" It's been 38 years, so there's a lot," said Lawrence.
You may have also seen him on stage as a comedian. But now Lawrence is one of 160,000 SAG members returning to work.
"I'm excited to get back to work. Having your acting, which is your life's blood, yanked out from under you … it's a little unsettling," said Lawrence. "It became a sort of thing of how do I maintain? How do I continue to eat, keep a roof over my head?"
The new contract may last three years. It includes a 7% pay raise, the largest for SAG in 40 years. It adds up to more than a billion dollars in new wages and benefits.
"And I think that's what's historic about this deal," said Lawrence. "It's gonna help people sustain and make a living as an actor."
The new deal also includes stronger guidelines around artificial intelligence.
"If you have my image and say, 'I own it, I can put it anywhere,' that's a problem," said Lawrence. "So to be able to say yes and no to where you want to place it, that's important."
86% of SAG-AFTRA board members voted in favor of the new contract.
"People have been waiting almost nine months, including the writers strike, to work again," said Actor Jeremy Piven, who stopped by the ABC 10News studios Friday morning. "They've worked really hard to work this out, and people are very happy to go back to work. It's an exciting time and I can't wait to go back to work myself."
Now that the SAG-AFTRA board approved the new deal, SAG members themselves will vote. It may take days to ratify or deny the new contract.
