Studio Teachers Reach Tentative Deal With Studios

The Studio Teachers (IATSE Local 884) have struck a tentative deal with the studios.

Local 884 came to a preliminary agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on craft-specific issues after a final day of bargaining on Friday, Deadline confirmed. They are the 12th of IATSE’s west coast studio locals to wrap talks with the AMPTP.

That leaves just one west coast local left to make a deal, the Affiliated Property Craftspersons Local 44. Deadline understands that Local 44 was set to return to the table Thursday in hopes of finalizing its own tentative deal by the end of the week.

The union is looking to have all local-specific negotiations finished before the negotiating committee meets with the AMPTP on Monday to begin general bargaining on the Basic Agreement.

General talks for the Basic Agreement, along with bargaining for the Area Standards Agreement, will represent the majority of the contract and include issues that impact all members like wage increases, pension and health contributions, artificial intelligence, job security and residuals.

As with last year’s labor negotiations, which resulted in dual strikes from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, AI and residuals are shaping up to be key points in IATSE’s deal. Deadline hears that none of the locals included AI in their proposals.

Talks for the Basic Agreement are expected to run until mid-May, at which point IATSE will continue into bargaining for the Area Standards Agreement, which covers 23 additional IATSE locals across the U.S.

Once IATSE has wrapped, the Teamsters and other Hollywood Basic Crafts will hold negotiations in June. They will also regroup with IATSE at the negotiating table soon to address the pension and health proposals that they jointly presented to the AMPTP in March.

Also on Thursday, the Teamsters announced that freelance casting assistants are seeking union representation, allowing them to be included in the Teamsters’ AMPTP Casting Director Agreement as well as the union’s separate casting directors agreement with Netflix, both of which will be re-negotiated this summer.