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.