Teamsters Local 399 in Los Angeles and Local 817 out of New York have ratified a new three-year studio contract for casting professionals with the AMPTP, the groups jointly announced Wednesday.
The contract was passed by a resounding 91.9% margin and marks the first time that casting assistants are included as the union’s jurisdiction has expanded, giving them access to union health and pension benefits. The new contract also adds minimum rates for casting directors, who up to this point had self-negotiated their wages from project to project.
“Our Casting Teamsters have always been fighters. Since their original fight for representation in 2006 to now, this group continues to stand united and work collaboratively to understand how to better advocate for the art and craft of Casting, as well as the livelihood of those working in this career,” Lindsay Dougherty, motion picture division director and lead negotiator, said in a statement.
“I want to commend our member-led committee. They fought until the bitter end in these negotiations on behalf of all classifications, and this group has already begun laying a foundation for our next contract fight and the enforcement of their new agreement that lies ahead,” Dougherty continued.
In its own statement, AMPTP congratulated Teamsters on the ratification.
“This agreement meaningfully addresses the unions’ top priorities, including establishing minimum salary rates for television Casting Directors and theatrical Casting Associates and adding Casting Assistants as a covered job classification under the agreement,” the AMPTP said. “The improvements in salary and wage rates included in this agreement ensure that studios can continue to attract and retain the premier creative talent that is the backbone of the motion picture industry.”
In the memorandum of agreement posted by Teamsters, casting directors are guaranteed a minimum weekly wage of $7,000 for pilots, increasing to $7,535 by 2026. Other weekly rates for the first year of the contract include $5,850 for pilots and first episodes of children’s programming and $4,500 for subsequent episodes of all series.
Associate casting directors will be guaranteed a weekly minimum of $1,820 for all projects, a 21% increase from the last contract and including film projects in the minimum for the first time.
Casting assistants will be guaranteed a minimum wage of $21/hour beginning Oct. 13, increasing to $22.60/hour by 2026. Teamsters secured the same bonus pay model negotiated by IATSE in its contract earlier this year, granting casting assistants double time after 12 hours per work in a day and triple time after 15 hours.
While acknowledging that Teamsters did not achieve all its contract goals, casting director Sherry Thomas, a Local 399 shop steward and negotiating committee member, said these wage increases were necessary to reverse the trend of downward pressure on casting workers’ pay, which was failing to keep up with the rising cost of living in Los Angeles, New York and other major production hubs.
“Our wages had been going backwards and decreasing over time. This new weekly minimum for casting directors gives us a foundation to negotiate from moving forward. The key in our success this round was our committee listening and learning from the struggles and challenges Casting Directors have been experiencing and sharing with us,” Thomas said.
“No contract is perfect. Perfection doesn’t exist. But if we can continue to chip away at gains in every bargaining cycle, we can advocate for ourselves, and for the generations that come next, to protect the craft of Casting. I am so proud of what we have accomplished in these negotiations and now, the work continues.”
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