After almost 150 days, the Writers Guild of America and major Hollywood Studios have come to an agreement to end the writer’s strike.
Talks between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers began last week. The two came to a decision that led to a tentative deal to end the ongoing writer’s strike.
“What we have won in this contract — most particularly, everything we have gained since May 2nd — is due to the willingness of this membership to exercise its power, to demonstrate its solidarity, to walk side-by-side, to endure the pain and uncertainty of the past 146 days,” the WGA negotiation committee wrote in a letter to members Sunday night. “It is the leverage generated by your strike, in concert with the extraordinary support of our union siblings, that finally brought the companies back to the table to make a deal.”
About The Strike and New Deal
About 20,000 writers have been without work or pay since May 2nd, 2023. This came after negotiations between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, came to a stand-still over the summer.
The terms of the deal have to still be approved by the over 11,000 members of the WGA. The tentative three-year contract would increase pay rates and residual payments for streaming shows. It also will change the rules in regard to AI in the content production process.
“To be clear, no one is to return to work until specifically authorized to by the Guild. We are still on strike until then,” the negotiating team said in a statement. “But we are, as of today, suspending WGA picketing.”
The next matter on the AMPTP agenda is the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, which first started in mid-July. 65,000 actors joined writers on the picket liens which marked the first time the two unions were on strike for the first time since 1960.