The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and major studios in Hollywood on Sunday reached a preliminary labor agreement, marking a significant step towards resolving one of the two strikes that have brought film and television production to a standstill and incurred significant economic losses for California.
Before this three-year contract can be implemented, it requires approval from both the WGA leadership and union members.
The WGA, representing a membership of 11,500 film and television writers, characterized the agreement as “exceptional” with “meaningful gains and protections for writers.”
“This was made possible by the enduring solidarity of WGA members and extraordinary support of our union siblings who joined us on the picket lines for over 146 days,” the negotiating committee said in a statement Sunday.
Although the WGA settlement is a significant milestone, ratification won’t immediately restore Hollywood to its usual operations. Despite the potential resumption of writing, the SAG-AFTRA actors’ union is still in the midst of a strike.
The writers went on strike on May 2 due to stalled negotiations concerning compensation, minimum staffing requirements for writers’ rooms, the utilization of artificial intelligence, and the distribution of residuals for successful streaming shows, among other matters.
“We stuck it out,” WGA liaison Caroline Renard said Sunday. “This is a union industry, and it’s about the people that make the actual product that makes these company billions of dollars.”
One writer posted an image on social media of a picket sign that read simply: “The End.”
The sole statement from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major studios like Walt Disney (DIS.N), Netflix (NFLX.O), Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O), and others, was a concise comment issued jointly with the union.
“The WGA and AMPTP have reached a tentative agreement,” the statement said.
The proposed contract remains in its preliminary stage. The WGA’s negotiating committee has stated that they will disclose the details only after receiving the final contract language. Subsequently, negotiators will vote on whether to recommend the deal to their leadership, who will then decide whether to present it to the members for a vote.
Hollywood’s dual strikes had a significant impact, causing the suspension of movie and TV series production and leading late-night talk shows to air reruns. Attempts to restart daytime talk shows without writers, like “The Drew Barrymore Show,” faced criticism from striking writers and actors, resulting in their failure this month.
During picket lines and protests, the rhetoric often revolved around class warfare, with writers criticizing media executives’ compensation and expressing concerns about working conditions that made it challenging for them to maintain a middle-class livelihood.
At certain points, executives exacerbated tensions. Following a contract extension that granted him an annual bonus five times his base salary, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger initially criticized striking writers and actors, characterizing their demands as “unrealistic.”
Later on, Iger adopted a more conciliatory tone, expressing his “deep respect” for creative professionals.
“It’s been a long road, and I’m ready to take the next step forward, which is just like healing for our guild and getting back to work on ourselves,” “Harlem” writer Brandon K. Hines said on Sunday.
