Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited sci-fi drama “Megalopolis” is among the latest projects approved for SAG-AFTRA’s interim agreement.
As a wholly independent project financed by Coppola himself and with no distributor currently attached, “Megalopolis” is a perfect fit for the actors’ guild’s interim agreement policy. Through the agreement, film and TV productions that are not connected to studios that are part of the contract actors are striking on can continue production and promotion with their casts as long as they agree to the terms in the latest contract proposal put forth by SAG-AFTRA prior to the start of its strike.
Production on “Megalopolis” wrapped in March, so the interim agreement, if needed, would allow Coppola and his team to promote the film at festivals alongside his ensemble cast, which Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Jon Voight and Laurence Fishburne.
The film would also be able to negotiate with independent distributors such as A24, Neon, and Bleecker Street for a theatrical release at these festivals. Distributors bidding on projects approved for the interim agreement must also adhere to the terms in SAG-AFTRA’s proposed contract or in the terms of any final contract that may be agreed upon between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
It is that rule which the guild believes would prevent AMPTP studios from using those productions as a way to acquire fresh material during the strike.
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