This summer has been one of strikes. The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since May of this year, and July 14th saw SAG-AFTRA hit the picket lines as well. But the most recent update on the strike sees a breakthrough for many independent productions moving forward.

As long as no members of production have a direct tie to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, these independent works will be able to move will be able to make new progress. After the AMPTP failed to agree to a new film and TV contract, the guild has continuously been branching out the agreement to encompass as many projects as possible. As Deadline reports, the guild said that members “may work on these productions without being in violation of the strike order.”

Agreements about casting give the green light to “audition and/or engage in negotiations regarding casting for these productions, but may not yet travel, rehearse, or otherwise begin rendering services for the production.”

Other agreements give clearance to promote the films at prominent film festivals. As seen recently, studios have been finding ways to work around actors being unable to promote films to the press. Sony found a creative loophole through pushing Gran Turismo back two weeks, amping up preview showings, and generating buzz through word of mouth. But, independent projects, notably including Michael Mann’s Ferrari, will be able to be promoted at their respective film festivals.

After meeting with the WGA, SAG-AFTRA altered its agreement policy to exclude WGA projects shot in the US. Furthermore, it clarified that distributors looking to pick up said projects must adhere to those terms for a deal to be made.

Other projects that will benefit from this moving forward are Angel Studios’ The Chosen, A24’s I Dream Of Unicorns, and Apple TV+ Tehran. For a full list of projects, see Deadline’s posting.

For further updates on the SAG-AFTRA strike, stay with us here.