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There won't be any end to the blitz of new movies and television shows, thanks to an agreement reached late July 3 between members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), and Hollywood film studios. Actors agreed to keep working beyond the expiration date of their old contract on June 30; discussions were said to be "amicable" and "low-key."

A primary goal of the unions, whose combined membership exceeds 135,000, was better treatment for their "middle class" members who earn less than $70,000 annually. (Despite the astronomical fees paid to a few superstars, only two percent of working actors earn more than $100,000 per year.) Concessions won in the new contract include increases in minimum fees for "guest star" performances and for residuals earned on reruns shown on cable television. The value of the deal was estimated it at more than $120 million. The agreement followed by only two months a similar scene played out between the studios and members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), resulting in a deal worth approximately $41 million. Brian Wilson, a Hollywood veteran and former executive director of the WGA, was SAG's chief negotiator in the contract discussions.

The actors' new contract, expected to be ratified by both unions, stipulates a 3% increase in minimum fees during the first two years and a 3.5% increase during third year; studios will handle payments into pension and health funds. Negotiators for both sides decided to forego making any decisions on compensation for work appearing on the Internet. At the moment, the Net is a miniscule market, but it will likely grow in importance with the rollout of video-on-demand services. The WGA contract included provisions for royalties from material on DVD, a format that was only beginning to ramp up during the previous contract negotiations.

Last year's six-month–long actors' strike against commercial producers, which reportedly sent more than a billion dollars in work overseas, had left all sides unwilling to endure a work stoppage, especially in the present economic downturn. Labor–management squabbles aren't over for the entertainment industry. Later this year, AFTRA will negotiate a new deal for daytime television actors, and the Directors Guild of America will seek a new contract next summer.

In a tangentially related development, newly appointed Screen Actors Guild CEO and national executive director John Cooke resigned Thursday, July 5, after receiving a letter from nine of the organization's national board members questioning whether his appointment was in keeping with SAG's constitution. "It would be inappropriate for me to accept the Screen Actors Guild position without clear authority to act on all the issues that are before the SAG management and organization," Cooke stated.