What do the religious drama The Chosen and the Rebel Wilson action-comedy Bride Hard have in common? Both productions will reportedly resume filming in spite of the Hollywood actors strike—but not because they’re breaking SAG-AFTRA’s rules.
Last week, SAG-AFTRA joined the Writers Guild of America on the picket line against Hollywood’s major studios, which are represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The union’s strike rules mandate that its members cease work on studio-backed productions worldwide. But some independent productions are eligible for exemption.
SAG-AFTRA’s website includes an FAQ page for independent producers that spells out some of the rules. For “independently produced content that comes within the scope of a strike order,” the organization writes, “...the producer may qualify for an ‘Interim Agreement’ that would allow such productions to continue working during a strike.” A representative for SAG-AFTRA did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for further comment.
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Deadline reports that in lieu of waivers—which SAG-AFTRA is reportedly not “quite ready” to hand out—the actors union has begun giving “green-light” to select, “truly independent producers” (meaning, those with no ties to the major studios that the AMPTP represents). In exchange, these select productions must reportedly agree to adhere to whatever contract the union achieves at the end of its negotiations. Seven films so far have gotten the go-ahead, according to Deadline.
But how would these exceptions actually affect the strike?
It’s not a direct comparison, but interim agreements are said to have worked in the WGA’s favor during its last strike, which lasted 100 days from 2007-08.
In December 2007, the writers guild struck a deal with David Letterman’s independent production company Worldwide Pants to get its programs Late Show and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson back on air. That same month, the guild made interim agreements with 31 independent producers, according to a 2014 article published by the International Association of Conflict Management’s Negotiation and Conflict Management Research journal.
“These deals closely paralleled the latest WGA proposal that the AMPTP had rejected,” authors Linda Putnam and Ryan Fuller pointed out. “Hence, through these agreements, WGA aimed to alter AMPTP’s framing by showing that their counterproposals were ‘fair and reasonable.’ ... These deals also exerted pressure on AMPTP to resume talks, even though management publicly stated that these deals were meaningless.”
At present, the reported interim agreements all appear to have fallen to individual productions. Still, given the big threats anonymous studio executives are reportedly making about starving the writers guild out until this fall, both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA will likely be on the hunt for ways to move things a little quicker. (The AMPTP disavowed the anonymous executives’ remarks after Deadline’s article quoting them went viral.)
The first known production to receive an interim agreement this year is the upcoming Rebel Wilson film Bride Hard—whose producer, Balcony 9 Productions, did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment. A source on the film confirmed to Deadline that it had been given the green light after a crew member tweeted (and then deleted) a post stating that thanks “to the SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement, productions like ours can continue.”
Because most U.S.-based television series involve major studio input, Deadline reports that the interim agreements will largely affect film productions. And yet, in a small miracle, the first TV series known to have benefited from the loophole happened to be one about Jesus.
In November 2019, The Chosen used equity funding—a historically uncommon method in Hollywood—to become the largest crowdfunded series of all time. It was originally developed by the “values-based” production company Angel Studios—yes, the same one that just released that QAnon-y summer blockbuster Sound of Freedom—and just made its debut on The CW, where it will air every Sunday through the rest of the year.
Over the weekend, the show’s official Twitter account shared the news that filming on Season 4 would resume Monday. “To be clear: 1. We’ve agreed to all of SAG’s requests and their interim agreement. 2. Season 4 is entirely independent and 100% funded by donations,” the account added. Deadline confirms that the series has since resumed filming with its full cast, all of whom were presumably singing “Hallelujah.”
