After 146 days, the Writers Guild of America which represents Hollywood’s writers and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers which is the largest association of studios and production companies have finally come to a tentative agreement. “We have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 MBA, which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points, subject to drafting final contract language,” WGA and AMPTP said in a statement on Monday.
Their biggest impasse was over the use of AI in the writing room and staffing levels, in addition to negotiating pay. The details of the agreement have not been revealed yet but the WGA also said in their statement that the strike was worth it. “We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership.” With this statement, it could be said that all of the demands from the strike were met. The WGA’s demands included cost-of-living increases to writers’ minimum salaries, residuals, working conditions, hiring practices, and the potential use of artificial intelligence to get around the need to hire and pay writers. These demands may seem intense and super involved but a lot of them are basic rights and are designed to protect writers from the severe hit to pay and job stability that’s come along with the switch to streaming and other changes.
SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents the actors, also had a similar set of demands and has been striking as well. However, just because this agreement was formed doesn’t mean that everything is now tied up in a pretty bow. Writers and actors are still on strike for now since a vote hasn’t happened yet. According to the WGA, “the negotiating committee will vote on whether to recommend the agreement to the union’s leadership. If the leadership authorizes a vote to ratify the contract, then members will vote on it.” Writers will not be able to return back to work until the leadership ends the strike so while this is a huge accomplishment, there’s still more work to be done since it is a scheduled process.
The actors in SAG-AFTRA are still on strike since it’s separate from the WGA strike so unfortunately, your favorite shows and movies won’t resume production just yet until both strikes are over and agreements are finalized. Even once the media gets the green light to continue, it will still take time for your favorite shows to premiere and return since there were many delays and many studios and workers had financial losses.
That does not mean that no one should celebrate the progress made though. This has been Hollywood’s longest and most costly labor strike but the hard work and patience were worth it. So many people complained about the strike itself and that it was useless but this agreement is proof that protesting and defending your rights is always valuable.
