Hollywood actors' union agrees 'historic deal' to end strike

Members of the Screen Actors Guild have been on strike for four months

Thousands of actors could soon be returning to work after a deal was agreed to end the biggest strike in Hollywood in more than 60 years.

The actors' union Sag-Aftra says it has reached an agreement with the group representing Hollywood studios, Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

The union wanted streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+ to pay them more for the work they do, to provide better working conditions, and to guarantee that Artificial Intelligence (AI) won't replace human actors in the future.

AMPTP said it "looks forward to the industry resuming the work of telling great stories".

What is the latest?

Around 160,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild were on strike

US actors are set to start work again after voting to accept a deal with the Hollywood studios.

The president of Sag-Aftra, Fran Drescher, thanked its members for "holding out for this historic deal" after being on strike for four months.

The union said the deal was worth more than $1bn (£814m) and included increases in minimum salaries, a new "streaming participation" bonus, and more protections against their images and voices being copied by artificial intelligence.

AMPTP said the deal gave Sag-Aftra "the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union".

What was the impact of the strike?

The production of a number of films was put on hold during the strike

Actors took industrial action alongside writers in July, it was the first time both the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and SAG had been on strike at the same time since 1960.

The writers union reached an agreement with studio bosses in September.

The strikes caused major disruption for the film and TV industry in countries like the UK as well as the US.

This affected Live action remakes of Disney animations Moana and Lilo & Stitch, as well as Paddington in Peru and James Cameron's Avatar series.