Taylor Swift's movie is a go amid the Hollywood actors' strike after she agreed to meet their demands — something major studios still haven't done

• Taylor Swift's Eras Tour movie was approved for an interim agreement through SAG-AFTRA.
• SAG-AFTRA represents actors, and its over 160,000 members are currently on strike.
• Members of SAG-AFTRA are permitted to promote new projects released during the strike if they meet the union's demands.

Taylor Swift is shaking off Hollywood's current strike stalemate between workers and studios for her upcoming blockbuster concert film — by simply agreeing to actors' demands.

Swift's Eras Tour concert film is set to be released in theaters on October 13 and is reportedly on track to make up to $100 million in its first weekend. It also has the union stamp of approval: Swift was able to strike an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union of which she's a member. That means Swift agreed to the union's last offers to studios, which include higher pay, increased breaks, and better residuals for streaming.

"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. And we said, that's great," Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA's national executive director and chief negotiator, told IndieWire at the Toronto International Film Festival. "And so she fulfilled all the same criteria as anybody else and has an interim agreement for that production."

Interim agreements have become one potent strategic tool for striking actors. SAG-AFTRA joined writers on strike in July, a simultaneous labor action unseen since 1960. That means that actors aren't filming or doing media appearances to help promote their already-completed films. Negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the trade association that represents movie studios and major TV and streaming networks, did not result in an agreement, triggering a strike among SAG-AFTRA's 160,000 members against the studios — and sending countless actors out onto the picket lines.

But independent productions can apply for interim agreements, where they agree to meet the union's demands. In cases where the union verifies that productions have cleared that bar actors can promote their work. Crabtree-Ireland has said that the union has received 1,400 applications for interim agreements.

SAG-AFTRA has actively encouraged actors to promote and audition for productions that have been approved for an agreement, partially in an attempt to increase "competitive pressure" on the major studios and showcase that "studios are shutting the industry down to resist terms that are clearly reasonable and viable."

"The Agreement demonstrates to the AMPTP and the struck companies that independent producers at all budget levels are eager, keen, and able to work with our members under these terms," Crabtree-Ireland said in a late August statement.

Already, prominent stars like Jessica Chastain are promoting their work on productions approved for those agreements. Chastain took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to write that if a majority of independent producers signed interim agreement deals, "it will show the AMPTP how wrong they are when they say our contract terms are unrealistic or unreasonable."

Representatives for Swift and SAG-AFTRA did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Swift's interim agreement.

Swift already sidestepped studios for her film, choosing to distribute it instead with AMC Theatres. As Insider's Jason Guerrasio reports, that's a unique deal that could set up more trouble for studios, with one studio source telling Guerassio that it's "a little scary" to have a non-studio distributing the already highly anticipated film.

With her interim agreement in place, Swift will be able to promote the film without crossing any picket lines. That might only boost an already huge release.

"We are very excited for everyone to go see that," Crabtree-Ireland told IndieWire. "And judging by the success of the tour, I have every expectation that all the people who couldn't get tickets because they were so expensive or hard to get, like me, will have a chance to see it in the theaters."