Hollywood's film and television crew workers, represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), have reached a three-year contract with major studios including Disney and Netflix — a deal that delivers significant pay increases and some of the industry's first explicit AI protections for crew members.
Pay Increases Over Three Years
The agreement structures wage scale rate increases in three steps: 7 percent in the first year, 4 percent in the second, and 3.5 percent in the third. The deal also addresses the union's pension and health plan, which faced a substantial funding gap.
The wage gains mirror terms won by other Hollywood unions and are designed to keep pace with rising costs for the tens of thousands of below-the-line workers the union represents — from set designers and grips to costume and visual effects departments.
IATSE AI Protections: What the Contract Actually Says
The IATSE AI protections clause is at the core of this deal. Under the agreed language, no covered employee can be required to provide AI prompts in any manner that results in the displacement of another covered employee. Studios are also obligated to negotiate with the union over any impact that AI systems may have on workers, with only limited exceptions.
The provision tracks closely with language won by SAG-AFTRA in its own landmark labor dispute, which ended in late 2023 after halting film and television production for nearly six months. That SAG-AFTRA contract included pay raises, streaming bonuses exceeding $1 billion over three years, and consent requirements around AI-generated likenesses.
Context: A Year of Hollywood Labor Battles
The IATSE deal arrives after one of the most disruptive periods in Hollywood's modern labor history. The combined writers' and actors' strikes of 2023 shut down productions across the industry, pushing studios to the table on issues they had long resisted — among them, how artificial intelligence would be governed in creative workplaces.
The IATSE contract is seen as a continuation of that momentum, extending structured AI guardrails to the crew workers who rarely share screen credit but whose labor underpins every production. As union representatives prepare for member ratification votes, the deal is broadly viewed as a meaningful step toward protecting employment in an industry being reshaped by automation.
