Actors Approve Contract, Ending Threat of Strike

The Screen Actors Guild overwhelmingly approved a new contract tonight with the big Hollywood studios, ending an impasse that raised the threat of another strike in the entertainment industry, reports the LA Times. The approval, pushed by a group of top-tier actors such as George Clooney and Tom Hanks, comes a year after the previous contract expired.

The new pact is actually similar to what the studios offered a year ago, but the actors lost bargaining clout because of the recession and some strategic blunders by their chief negotiator, ousted in January. The deal gives actors a 3% raise and residuals for shows that stream for free on sites like Hulu. Critics, notably Ed Asner, say actors are still shortchanged for their Internet work.
(More Screen Actors Guild stories.)