Some productions ‘prepping again’ but actors’ strike ‘exposes UK reliance on US’

Some high-end TV productions have started “prepping again” following the actors’ strike coming to an end in America, a UK union has said.

A “tentative agreement” between the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) has brought to an end a historic 118-day walkout.

Spencer MacDonald, national secretary of creative industries trade union Bectu, told the PA news agency that the industrial action has “exposed” the UK’s “reliance on the inward investment of big American productions”.

He said: “We’ve always said that (if) the circus leaves town, then what are we left with? If the Americans decide they’re going to plant their flag somewhere else, what sort of industry (have) we got left?

“And you can see what sort of industry we’ve got left, (it) is not very much.”

Mr MacDonald said that after a “really tough, difficult time” some productions have begun “prepping” the return of Hollywood studios filming in the UK.

He said: “So we’ve heard there’s at least two (productions)… have started lighting their sets and prepping again… (which are) the big, high-end TV production… and the features.”

However, Mr MacDonald said that for many TV and film workers it will be more of a “staggered” return as actors and locations need to become available once more.

“I suppose if we’re looking at this in the rear-view mirror now then the good news is that they will get back up and running, it’s just a matter of when,” he added.

Before the strikes, superhero film Deadpool 2, the movie adaptation of the musical Wicked and a Formula 1 feature film starring Brad Pitt had all been paused due to the action.

Mr MacDonald, who looks after negotiations on major film, TV dramas and commercial agreements on behalf of Bectu’s manly freelance members, said the union will look at what can be done to support British independent productions and improve workers’ contracts.

He said UK employees have faced a “really precarious situation” during the strike, where under contracts with major studios, workers were suspended without pay, according to the union.

This means fewer legal requirements on employers and is known as a force majeure clause or an act of God.

Mr MacDonald said: “(If) there are going to be force majeure (clauses), they’re (the companies are going to) have to look at in terms of whether there’s retainers or some sort of support for them going forward, because they can’t have this situation where they just hire and fire people, just like this, particularly if they want to grow the industry, because it’s just not sustainable.”

He said this will not involve a “trade dispute” but the union will “lobby as hard as we can” to get new guarantees.

British workers have moved out of film and TV to other careers during the strike, he also claimed.

“(The) worrying thing for me, really, (is that) we start losing really talented individuals, then we can see all (the industry) crumbling around us,” Mr MacDonald said.

Full details of the deal will not be announced until the tentative agreement is reviewed by the Sag-Aftra national board on Friday.