Over the last several years, the ever-buzzing Hollywood bubble has kept a mighty lens hovered over the SAG-AFTRA scope.
Of course, this is majorly due to the 2023 strike that shook the entertainment industry for over three months and delayed a plethora of pulse-pounding projects in both film and television. And now that the 2025 SAG Awards has officially etched its name into entertainment history, SAG-AFTRA has probably popped up on your radar once again.
You’ve definitely heard the name a few times by now, that much is a given, but you might be a little fuzzy on what it stands for. We can help! After all, we’ve got this covered.
What does SAG-AFTRA mean?
SAG-AFTRA stands for the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Originally two separate unions for screen actors, SAG and AFTRA, the two merged into SAG-AFTRA on Mar. 30, 2012. The union represents around 160,000 members as of writing, including actors, dancers, news anchors, voice-over artists, and more.
The union has gone on strike several times in its history, most recently in 2023 when SAG-AFTRA failed to reach a deal with Hollywood studios represented by the AMPTP, or the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (I saved you a search). The strike was the longest one in the union’s history, beating out a 95-day SAG strike in 1980 (via Variety).
In addition to negotiating contracts with studios on behalf of its members, SAG-AFTRA hosts the SAG Awards once a year. The awards ceremony in which members vote in each category, precedes the Oscars and viewers often use the SAG awards to help them determine if their Oscars predictions will come true. If only other labor unions had such hype awards ceremonies.
Published: Feb 24, 2025 02:58 pm