The Writers Guild of America went on strike on May 2nd of this year. According to The Hollywood Reporter, negotiation meeting was held on Tuesday, September 26th, with the WGA West and WGA East in order to decide what to do next. The guild leadership decided in a unanimous vote to end the strike, allowing approximately 11,500 guild members to go back to work.
As The Hollywood Reporter notes, the WGA negotiating committee stated, “This allows writers to return to work during the ratification process, but does not affect the membership’s right to make a final determination on contract approval.”
This means that, although writers under WGA contracts are now allowed to return to work, the tentative deal reached by the AMPTP and WGA on Sunday, September 24th, is not immediately put in place.
During the same meeting on Tuesday, the guild leadership approved the deal. However, there are still multiple steps needed in order to finalize the deal. Specifically, as The Hollywood Reporter notes, Union members still need to vote. A widespread union vote will take place between October 2nd and October 9th, and members are encouraged to watch sessions online in order to learn more about the new deal and make an informed decision.
With the deal, there are notable concessions that the WGA will win, which are all outlined in the official WGA Contract.
Throughout the strike, a major conversation emerged relating to the use of Artificial Intelligence in the television industry. According to the contract, there are specific regulations regarding writers and AI. Under the new contract, AI cannot be used for literary or source material, and the use of a writer’s material to train AI is prohibited.
Furthermore, a writer can use AI if they choose to as long as the writer follows company policies. However, a company cannot require AI to be used nor can a company give a writer AI-generated material without disclosing that.
As noted by the contract, the WGA also fought for a viewership-based streaming bonus and streaming data transparency. This means that streaming companies must provide the WGA with the total number of hours that their work was streamed both domestically and internationally. If a work is viewed by at least 20% of the streaming companies’ domestic subscribers within the first ninety days, then a bonus must be given.
Additionally, as stated by the contract, the minimum weekly rates for staff writers and story editors/executive story editors will increase. Additionally, a new tier for writer-producers will have a higher minimum weekly rate. In addition, there will be an increased health and pension contribution rate for individual writers as well as team writers.
Along with an increase in pay for staff writers, there are also new requirements for the amount of staff writers employed for a series. A series must employ a minimum of three writers-producers, including the showrunner, and the minimum amount of staff writers depends on how many episodes the series will have. For a series with six or fewer episodes, a minimum of three writers must be employed. For a series with seven to twelve episodes, a minimum of five writers must be employed. For a series with thirteen or more writers, a minimum of six writers must be employed. The only way this requirement does not have to be abided by is if a single writer is to write all episodes.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, although the 148-day-long WGA strike has come to an end, there are no set plans for the SAG-AFTRA strike to end. The SAG-AFTRA made a post on Instagram, stating, “At this time, we have no confirmed dates scheduled to meet with the AMPTP. When we do have dates confirmed, we will inform you. Unless you hear it from us, it’s hearsay.”
Wednesday, September 27th at 12:01 AM PT marks the end of the second-longest WGA strike to date.