SAG-AFTRA Finds Its Anti-Hero: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Documentary Gets Striking Union’s Approval After Meeting Demands

(Photo: MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images) US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performs during her Eras Tour at Sofi stadium in Inglewood, California, August 7, 2023. "The Eras Tour has been the most meaningful, electric experience of my life so far and I'm overjoyed to tell you that it'll be coming to the big screen soon," Swift said on social media on August 31, 2023. "Eras attire, friendship bracelets, singing, and dancing encouraged."

With SAG-AFTRA about to hit its second month on strike, they have found the unlikely hero - or anti-hero - to root for in Taylor Swift.

It was reported that the phenomenal singer-songwriter, who is also a member of SAG-AFTRA, met the union's demands over the release of her concert film for The Eras Tour, which would be scheduled in October.

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Releasing Swift's Docu-film in SAG-AFTRA's Terms

Swift's decision to document her own tour and directly approach AMC to distribute the docu-film was a message against major studios and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), who were pushing back blockbuster films due to the Hollywood strikes of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, Gizmodo reported.

She also approached SAG-AFTRA to meet its demands by striking an interim deal to have the film released.

"That concert movie is covered by a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement," the union's chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland confirmed to IndieWire at the Toronto International Film Festival. "She came to us and said she wanted to do this, but only if she could do it the right way under a union contract. She fulfilled all the same criteria as anybody else."

However, SAG-AFTRA did not immediately provide its demands that were specifically related to Swift's concert film.

A Cruel Summer for AMPTP

Swift's deal with SAG-AFTRA was another win for the union and another blow to the AMPTP. With the deal and Swift's sympathy towards the striking unions, as well as the huge overall success of her North American leg of the Eras Tour, she was the second person or entity this year to make the unprecedented move of skipping major producers and directly offer their product to distributors themselves.

The first to technically do so this year was Angel Studios when they released the box office dark horse "Sound of Freedom" after allegedly wrestling it away from Disney.

The movie's lead actor, Jim Caviezel, who plays ex-Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard in the film, earlier said he was rooting for his "brothers and sisters" in SAG-AFTRA despite Angel Studios not being part of the collective bargaining agreement with AMPTP because of the film.