Crisis Averted: Daytime Emmys To Proceed As Planned After IATSE, NATAS Strike Deal

EXCLUSIVE: Crisis averted! The Daytime Emmys will go on as planned, after IATSE threatened to picket over the production’s use of a majority non-union crew on Friday.

IATSE leadership met with the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Friday afternoon in an effort to reach an agreement prior to showtime. Deadline understands the deal was reached around 3 p.m. PT, just two hours before the awards show was set to begin.

IATSE and NATAS have not responded to Deadline’s request for comment, nor have they shared any deal points at this time. This post will be updated if/when they do.

The agreement came about an hour after the WGA West chimed in, encouraging members not to participate in the awards show in the event of a picket.

“It is unacceptable for the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) to employ a non-union crew, especially to produce a show that celebrates the achievements of unionized talent,” the WGAW’s memo read.

The Daytime Emmys are typically a non-union affair, though the union has tried to reach a deal with NATAS in the past. It’s understood that NATAS hired a company to produce the show on a lean budget this year. Generally, the Daytime Emmys are produced on a shoestring budget, and sponsorships help to cover costs.

Organizing at the event this year was undoubtedly IATSE’s attempt to flex some muscle, given its ongoing negotiations with the major studios. On Thursday, the union announced it had failed to reach a deal despite reaching the end of their scheduled bargaining days with the AMPTP.

The union’s current contract is set to expire on July 31, so there is still time to make a deal. However, Teamsters Local 399 and the rest of the Hollywood Basic Crafts begin bargaining next week, and they also are aiming to secure their own agreements by the same deadline.

A show of force at the Daytime Emmys was a way to signal that the labor movement in Hollywood is still going strong, even if things have quieted down since last year’s dual strikes ended.

This was supposed to be a long-awaited stable year for the Daytime Emmys, which have finally returned to some semblance of normalcy on CBS after years of having to scrape for a regular home. CBS made a pact with NATAS to carry the show through this year, having aired it in 2010, 2011, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. No new deal has been made for 2025 and beyond.