The Writers Guild of America (WGA) officially ended their five-month strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on September 27. WGA represents around 11,500 writers in the film and television sector. For the unversed, the 148-day writers' strike was the second-longest strike in Hollywood history.
On March 7, the Writers Guild of America made an announcement that 99% of its members voted in favour of demands, including an increase in pay, better residuals, protections from artificial intelligence job interference and others. On March 20, the negotiations between the WGA and AMPTP started but they were put on hold. The negotiations didn’t happen and it led to the start of the WGA strike. The strike was approved by a 97.9% vote and it was supported by several actors including Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Bob Odenkirk, Cynthia Nixon, Kumail Nanjiani, Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Ben Stiller, Colin Farrell and Jamie Lee Curtis among others.
WGA and AMPTP announced that an agreement had been made. A three-year contract has been made with Hollywood studios that includes increased payment for writers, length of employment, size of staff, and protections against AI, and redefined residual payments from streaming services, ensuring protection and stability in their careers.
As a result of the truce, late-night talk shows that were first to be affected by the writers’ strike on May 2 are likely to resume. Scripted shows will take longer to return. NBC’s ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ and ABC’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ might return to the air in the coming days.
During the strike, the union demanded minimum increases in pay and future residual earnings from shows of between 5% and 6%, depending on the position of the writer. The studios had wanted between 2% and 4%. In the deal, there was a raise of between 3.5% and 5%.
The guild has negotiated new residual payments based on the popularity of streaming shows, as a result of which the writers will get bonuses for being a part of the most popular shows on Netflix, Max and other services.
Writers got a guarantee that staff on shows in initial development will be employed for at least 10 weeks and on shows that go to air will be employed for three weeks per episode.
Artificial intelligence which was the main topic of the strike, now the writers got the regulation and control over the technology that they had sought. Under the new contract, raw, AI-generated storylines will not be regarded as “literary material” — a term in their contracts for scripts and other story forms a screenwriter produces. Now, they won't be competing with computers for screen credits. Also, the AI-generated stories will not be considered “source” material, but their contractual language for the novels, video games or other works that writers may adapt into scripts.
President Joe Biden, in a statement, said the agreement was a “testament to the power of collective bargaining.”
“There simply is no substitute for employers and employees coming together to negotiate in good faith toward an agreement that makes a business stronger and secures the pay, benefits and dignity that workers deserve,” said Biden.
