Hollywood sign pixabay

Source: Pixabay

Negotiators for the Teamsters union chapters representing US casting directors, associate casting directors and casting assistants have reached a tentative agreement over a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). 

The casting directors’ current contract had been set to expire on Monday (Sept 30). A statement from Teamsters locals 399 and 817 said the union’s “member-led negotiating committee fought until the bitter end for a tentative agreement that is being unanimously recommended for ratification.” 

The tentative agreement will be put up for a ratification vote next week by the union’s membership of casting directors, associates and assistants in Los Angeles and New York. 

Casting assistants only recently voted to unionise under the Teamsters banner. 

The tentative agreement for casting workers comes nearly two months after members of the Hollywood Basic Crafts chapters of the Teamsters union ratified their new three-year deal with the AMPTP

Still ongoing are negotiations between the AMPTP and the Animation Guild, which represents around 5,000 members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) union working in animation. The Guild’s contract expired in August but has been extended to November 1 while talks continue.