After tenuous negotiations, the WGA appear to have finally reached a fair deal with the AMPTP after nearly 140 days on strike, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The strike began on May 2, 2023 after the WGA and the AMPTP failed to come to a consensus for terms on writers’ contracts. Many of the issues centered around residuals, streaming numbers, the size of writers rooms, and AI protections—all in service to the existential threat that the writers are facing as studios have made moves to turn writing from a career into a gig.
After reports of “encouraging” talks between the WGA and the AMPTP in mid-September (and the latter organization making its “best final offer” over the weekend), it appears as if the two guilds have reached a deal amid the constant pressure of the strikes on both the studios and the unions, the continuous press cycle around the strikes, and the united front of the unions in Hollywood. THR reports the WGA emailed the strike captains on Sunday night, saying it and the AMPTP came to terms on a provisional three-year agreement. At time of writing, the full details of that agreement have yet to be disclosed, and it also needs to be ratified by WGA members to fully take effect.
WGA members have shared screenshots of the email on social media, in which the union calls the deal “exceptional—with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership. What we have won in this contract…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 last 146 days.”
YAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/Y7E18zw9if
— Carter Blanchard (@CartBlanch) September 25, 2023
Things aren’t out of the woods yet—there’s a chance WGA members could reject what’s offered in the agreement, and we’re back at where we started—but this is the most significant change of events for the strike in months. We will update this story with more details as they are released.
SAG-AFTRA remains on strike.
Update, September 26, 8:18 p.m. ET: The WGA strike officially ends at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. According to Deadline, “Writers can then return to work while the ratification process plays out. If, on the off chance that members reject the tentative agreement that was worked out on Sunday, the strike will start back up again.”
A statement that the WGA sent to members reads:
“As we reported on Sunday, the WGA reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on a new three-year Minimum Basic Agreement. Today, your Negotiating Committee, the WGAW Board and WGAE Council all voted unanimously to recommend the agreement. It will now go to both Guilds’ memberships for a ratification vote. Eligible voters will receive ballot and materials for the vote which will take place from October 2nd to October 9th.
“The WGAW Board and WGAE Council also voted unanimously to lift the restraining order and end the strike as of 12:01 am PT/3:01 am ET on Wednesday, September 27th. 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.
“Now that we have finalized the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), we can share details of this exceptional deal, with gains and protections for members in every sector of the business:
Members can read the complete tentative agreement, which is codified in this Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).
We are also providing a short Summary of the MOA.
Here is an update of the 2-pager (now 7-pager) that compares the status of negotiations on May 1st and what we achieved after 148 days on strike.”
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