WGA Reaches Tentative Agreement With Studios to End Writers Strike

At least one of Hollywood's strikes might be coming to an end. 

After nearly five months of picketing, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) shared that it has reached a tentative agreement, pending final contract language, with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

"What we have won in this contract," the WGA wrote in a Sept. 24 statement shared to its website, "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. 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."

And though the union is unable to share the details of the agreement until the final contract is written, the statement continued, "We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional—with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership."

The major studios had resumed negotiations with the WGA on Sept. 20, with negotiations continuing throughout the week until the studios and the union were able to strike their tentative deal on Sept. 25. Back in May, the guild began striking after being unable to agree to terms on a new contract after six weeks of negotiations.

Some of the union's main points regarded writers receiving a larger portion of residuals when their work airs on streaming services, the elimination of mini rooms—which are writers rooms with fewer writers and less time to work—and preventing Artificial Intelligence from being used to create content instead of writers.

Once the final contract is drafted, the WGA's Negotiating Committee will vote on whether to recommend the agreement to the union's Board and Council who will vote on whether to ratify the contract on Sept. 26. If ratified, the Board and Council would then vote on whether to lift the restraining order on its union's members, effectively ending the writers' strike that had in place in Hollywood since May. 

While the WGA strike is technically still in effect until the new contract is ratified, the union suspended picketing, instead encouraging members to join the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) who began striking in July after failing to reach their own contract agreement with the AMPTP.

While the SAG-AFTRA have yet to resume negotiations with AMPTP on their new contract, once the WGA strike concludes, writers will be able to return to work, setting productions up to resume filming once actors are allowed to work again.