After five consecutive days of negotiations, negotiators for Hollywood studios and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have reached a potential breakthrough agreement to end the ongoing strike that has brought TV and film scriptwriting to a standstill. Although the terms of the agreement have not yet been disclosed, the WGA described the deal as “exceptional” and stated that it includes significant gains and protections for writers in all sectors of the membership.
In response to the tentative deal, the WGA has immediately halted picketing. However, the union is advising its 11,000 members not to return to work until the agreement is formally written into a contract and approved by WGA leaders and the general membership. Until then, the strike is still in effect.
This agreement represents a significant step forward in the negotiations between the WGA and the major studios since their previous contract expired in May. The main points of contention included writer pay and the use of artificial intelligence to create scripts. The progress of these negotiations is seen as a positive precedent for the negotiations with the another union representing tens of thousands of TV and film actors who joined the strike over the summer.
It is worth noting that the terms of the agreement have yet to be finalized into a contract, according to the WGA’s statement. Details of the agreement will be shared once all the necessary steps and approvals are completed.
Once the final contract has been completed, it will need to be approved by the WGA’s negotiating committee and the board of directors for the eastern and western branches of the union. These approvals are tentatively scheduled to take place by Tuesday. If the contract is approved by leadership, the details will be made public, and meetings will be held with WGA members to discuss and vote on the deal. If a majority vote in favor, the union will send its members back to work.
In previous negotiations, WGA members have overwhelmingly voted in favor of new contracts every three years. A majority of members voted to ratify the 2020 contract and the 2017 contract before it, and the contract that ended the 2008 strike.
It is also important to note that union leaders are not required to wait for the ratification vote to end the strike. In previous instances, writers were allowed to return to work before the ratification vote was completed. The negotiators mentioned in their statement that this may be a possibility again, enabling writers to resume their work while the membership makes a final determination on contract approval.
The resolution of the WGA strike will allow writers to resume their scriptwriting activities, which will help alleviate the backlog of delayed TV and film projects that have accumulated since May. While reality shows and projects not relying on striking actors may be able to resume production immediately, the filming of major scripted projects, including franchise movies and sitcoms, will still be on hold until a dispute with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is resolved. SAG-AFTRA ordered tens of thousands of actors to withhold their work in July for similar reasons as the writers – better pay, benefits, residual payments, transparency in streaming projects, and protection against being replaced by artificial intelligence.
However, negotiations between studios and SAG-AFTRA have yet to begin, and it is unclear how long the overall Hollywood labor crisis will continue. The tentative deal with the WGA only came after almost two months of negotiations, and the process with SAG-AFTRA may take a similar amount of time. The studios are eager to have the writers back on the job, as demonstrated by the participation of top executives in the recent closed-door meetings. Nonetheless, discussions with SAG-AFTRA will be crucial for fully resolving the crisis.
In conclusion, the potential breakthrough agreement between Hollywood studios and the WGA is a significant development in the ongoing strike. While the details of the agreement are yet to be revealed and the contract is still pending approval, the negotiating progress serves as a promising sign for the resolution of the strike.
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