The 3 A.M. Handshake: How the American Federation of Musicians and AMPTP Came to Terms on Streaming Residuals and AI Protections
variety.comCynthia Littleton Business Editor The contract talks finally reached the handshake point at 3 a.m. PT on Feb. 23. But the real breakthrough in the negotiation between the American Federation of Musicians and Hollywood’s major studios came in the afternoon of Feb.
22 — after AFM president Tino Gagliardi called in reinforcements to the conference rooms at AMPTP headquarters, famously located on the former site of the Sherman Oaks Galleria. “I was starting to do something rash,” Gagliardi told Variety. “When I was getting the signal that they weren’t going to budge, I contacted my negotiating committee to tell them we needed to prepare for a strike authorization vote.
I got about 60 to 65 people in the room at the Galleria. It had an impact.” The sides had been facing an April 30 expiration of AFM’s existing agreement.
The union had already granted the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers multiple extensions of the prior contract.
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