Netflix to Negotiate Master Contract with IATSE

Dave McNary

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Streaming giant Netflix has agreed to negotiate what would be its first master contract with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

Netflix has previously signed deals with the below-the-line union through third-party companies that are signatory to IATSE’s basic film and TV agreement. IATSE international president Matthew Loeb will head negotiations.

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News of the upcoming talks first was disclosed by the Editors Guild, which operates as IATSE Local 871, in its CineMontage newsletter.

“This is a watershed moment,” Cathy Repola, the guild’s national executive director, said in the newsletter. “These negotiations will provide a unique opportunity to set the pattern for these types of agreements.”

The newsletter disclosed that Loeb had addressed delegates from local unions across California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii in June about plans for contract negotiations in film, television and streaming.

“We’ve got Netflix now with almost 200 new projects,” Loeb said at the time. “Where the eyeballs for all this are I don’t know, but keep them coming. Amazon, YouTube, and Hulu combined have another almost 200 productions slated. All this production means increased hours into our health and pension plans, more residual payments and, of course, jobs for our people.”

Netflix did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

SAG-AFTRA announced in July that it had signed its first master contract with Netflix for three years through June 30, 2022. Netflix has previously employed SAG-AFTRA members under the union’s standard master contracts for television and film and had been signing on a production by production basis.

(Pictured: Netflix’s “Ozark”)

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