Hollywood Writers Sign ‘Exceptional’ Agreement with Studios, Signaling the End of the Strike

Hollywood has been immobilized by writers’ strikes, but on Sunday they claimed to have achieved a “exceptional” agreement with studios that may allow them to resume their jobs.

The apparent progress will increase confidence that striking actors and studios may come to an agreement to end their months-long standoff, which has virtually stalled film and television production and cost the Californian economy billions of dollars.

According to a message the Writers Guild of America issued to members, “We have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 (minimum basic agreement), which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points, subject to drafting final contract language.”

We can proudly state that this agreement is remarkable and offers authors in every membership area significant benefits and safeguards.

The letter, a copy of which was provided to AFP, was vague. It said that the membership would have the last decision on whether to accept the offer and that the text was still being worked out.

To be clear, nobody is allowed to start working again until the Guild gives the go-ahead. Until then, we are still on strike. However, we are stopping WGA picketing as of right now, it said.

An agreement was verified in a brief joint statement from the WGA and the AMPTPT, the organization that unites studios and streamers.

– A CASTLEWAKEN –

Early in May, thousands of screenwriters for cinema and television put down their pens in protest of demands that included higher compensation for authors, bigger prizes for developing blockbuster series, and protection against AI.

They have been manning picket lines outside major businesses like Netflix and Disney for months. In mid-July, they were joined by striking actors, leaving typically bustling Hollywood lots all but empty.

The WGA was hailed by the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA, which praised the “incredible strength, resiliency, and solidarity on the picket lines.”

The statement said, “We remain dedicated to attaining the required conditions for our members. While we look forward to evaluating the WGA and AMPTP’s preliminary agreement.

The chiefs of Netflix, Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. Discovery personally attended the meetings, which looked to have given the negotiations between studios and authors a new sense of urgency. The negotiations had been inactive for weeks.

The increase of streaming has decreased the “residuals” writers get when a program they work on becomes a success, they claim, and their earnings have not kept up with inflation.

Studios have proposed more openness about streaming viewership statistics but stopped short of proposing to change how residual payments are determined.

As a result of their concerns that AI may be used to partly replace them in the process of creating future film or television screenplays, writers have also urged restrictions on its usage.

5 BILLION DOLLARS

Beginning in September, The Financial Times published data from the Milken Institute that estimated the cost of the current Hollywood impasse at $5 billion.

The WGA strike, which has lasted 146 days, is far longer than the writers’ walkout in 2007–2008, which lasted 100 days and cost the Californian economy $2.1 billion.

The actors’ strike would go on even if the authors’ agreement is reached.

Since the start of that strike, there have been no reported contract negotiations between the studios and the 160,000-member SAG-AFTRA group of actors.

However, the demands of the two unions are quite similar, and sources claim that a WGA agreement might help open the door for an end to the actors’ strike.

SAG-AFTRA stated: “We are still on strike in our TV/Theatrical contract and continue to call on the CEOs of the studios, streamers, and AMPTP to come back to the table and make the fair deal that our members deserve and demand.”