Independent Films Unblocked: SAG-AFTRA Waivers Would Let Some Productions Work Through A Strike

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Independent films that found it impossible to get bonded or financed this spring and summer with a potential SAG-AFTRA strike looming — as well as new projects that were looking to start after June 30 — now have a shot at moving ahead as the union proceeds with interim agreements.

The agreements, which are essentially non-work waivers in the case of a strike, would make it possible to bond new indie films heading into a potential work stoppage, something that hasn’t been the case for months. “There are many, many dozens of projects that have been put in mothballs, or fallen apart,” one leading insurance broker told Deadline.

The broker requested anonymity given the sensitivities of the labor situation, as did other sources. SAG granted waivers during its last strike in 2000, “and this one is following a lot of the same characteristics,” the broker. “So, where you see an independent film that does not have studio distribution yet, and that will lose its opportunity to get made, SAG will want to help.” Details are starting to trickle out, notes one producer, who said he has heard SAG “will give waivers if you agree to their terms.” What exactly those terms are, in dollars and cents, is not totally clear to him.

The actors’ contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers expires June 30. Its membership approved a strike authorization on June 5.