Key takeaways from the tentative contract that would end the writers‘ strike, and how it addresses writers room staffing, streaming residuals and artificial intelligence.
The Writers Guild of America on Tuesday disclosed the details of the tentative deal it secured with the major Hollywood studios to end the strike that has lasted for nearly five months.
A seven-page summary document, which was distributed to the WGA’s 11,500 film and TV writer members, includes increases in wages and residuals, as well as language addressing the union’s demands for minimum staff in television writers rooms, payments based on the success of streaming shows and protections against the use of artificial intelligence.
It was a deal for which writers fought hard.
The WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the big entertainment companies on the labor front, reached the pact on Sunday after 146 days of picketing and marching that virtually shuttered movie and scripted TV production. The writers’ walkout began May 2. Actors represented by SAG-AFTRA, who remain on strike, hit the picket lines in mid-July.
The WGA West board and WGA East council approved the deal, which was recommended unanimously by the guild’s negotiating committee. Now it will be presented to the union’s membership for a ratification vote. The WGA said the strike would officially end Wednesday, with writers finally going back to work.
