After several long consecutive days of negotiations, the Writers Guild of America and the labor group representing studios and streamers have reached a tentative deal on a new contract in a major development that could precipitate the end of a historic, 146-day writers’ strike. The Writers Guild of America emailed strike captains the news on Sunday night.
The parties came to terms on a provisional three-year agreement, which will need to be ratified by WGA members to take effect, on Sunday after studios responded to last-minute union asks that day. Specifics of the deal affecting around 11,500 WGA members weren’t available as of press time, though they will undoubtedly emerge in the next few days as the union seeks to sell its members on the pact.
During the final weekend of negotiations, lawyers huddled before the studios presented their alleged “best and final” offer on Saturday night. Later that same night, the AMPTP and the WGA issued a joint statement that they would be meeting again on Sunday. And indeed, despite the supposed finality of the studios’ previous proposal, the union returned to their bargaining counterparts on Sunday afternoon with some additional asks before the sides ultimately wrapped up the negotiations.
The mood among writers on Friday’s packed picket lines was one of cautious optimism, as union members anticipated that the end of the historic work stoppage might be night. “The fact that they’ve been talking for three days straight is terrific,” showrunner Marc Guggenheim (Legends of Tomorrow) told The Hollywood Reporter at Disney. Studio-side sources familiar with the progress in the room also projected positivity over the past several days as management made moves on issues including A.I., TV staffing and residual compensation tied to streaming show performance. That buoyant mood dipped on Thursday night, when studio sources claimed the WGA came back late in the night with new asks on items that management believed to be already closed; but returned on Friday as the sides nailed down compromises.
The momentum in talks over the course of the past week was a welcome change in pace from the month-long standstill in negotiations that occurred after a meeting between WGA leaders and several CEOs plus AMPTP president Carol Lombardini in late August, which ended in mutual recrimination. The AMPTP released its Aug. 11 offer publicly, and the WGA slammed the meetup, saying its leaders were met with a “lecture about how good their single and only counteroffer was.” The pause in talks was lifted on Sept. 14, when the AMPTP announced that the WGA had reached out to resume negotiations and both sides were working on scheduling in the following week.
At day 146 of the ongoing WGA strike, the work stoppage was closing in on being the longest in the union’s history. The current record was set in 1988, when the WGA struck Hollywood companies for 154 days.
Though still tentative in nature, the agreement is a momentous development for an industry that has been hobbled by the double WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the first time both have occurred at once in over 60 years. The WGA strike had an immediate impact: Filming in Los Angeles declined 29 percent between April and June 2023 compared with the same period last year as the writers’ work stoppage began May 2, local office FilmLA reported on April 19. A wide array of major projects were halted in their tracks and/or postponed, including Netflix’s Stranger Things, Apple TV+’s Loot, Marvel’s Blade 2 and Thunderbolts and others. When SAG-AFTRA joined the stoppage, a number of additional projects including Venom 3, Gladiator 2 and Deadpool 3 followed.
A tentative agreement does not eradicate the potential for the strike to continue, as WGA members could still reject the deal in an upcoming ratification vote. The stakes and expectations are high, given how long the work stoppage has gone on so far. However, in the coming days the WGA leadership will undoubtedly work hard to persuade their members of the deal’s merits.
Negotiations for the agreement began on March 20 and broke off the night of May 1, resulting in a strike the next day. The two parties reunited again on August 11, reached a standstill in late August but resumed on Sept. 20, and concluded their negotiations on Sept. 23. The writers had been advocating for great compensation in the streaming era, through higher wage floors, regulation of mini-rooms and residuals tied to the performance of their shows. Meanwhile, studios and streamers — who have been feeling pressure to cut costs after Wall Street turned on unprofitable streaming operations in 2022 and amid an uncertain economic climate — were seeking to rein in their spending on labor. It remains to be seen how both sides managed to reach a compromise that could satisfy their constituents.
The writers were led in their negotiations by WGA West assistant executive director Ellen Stutzman, who stepped up to the plate after the western branch of the union’s executive director David Young went on medical leave prior to the start of talks. Carol Lombardini, the AMPTP’s chief negotiator since 2009, led the talks for producers.
Now, it’s up to the WGA’s members to determine whether the deal satisfies the workplace issues that their peers have been raising for months. All eyes are on the union’s ratification vote for the deal, whose date has not yet been announced.
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Let's make it clear here: I'm happy this is over because it means the NCIS franchise can finally start working on their new Seasons (and hopefully work towards bringing Hetty home!), and that future rom coms for next year on GAF and UP TV are safe. Other then that, I don't feel any happiness for this union.
They could've prevented all this months ago if their ego centric leadership hadn't been so greedy, instead their actions of the past 4 months have not only delayed the new TV Season, but have also put a lot of workers out of their homes or on the brink of homelessness. Not to mention, there was all the terrible bullying over ANY dissenting opinion on the strike from any member. I am still horrified that anyone would ever approve of such tactics ever being used to keep people from trying to save their jobs. No business has any right to act in such a manner.
They were never going to win against the studios, because the studios have had them by the balls since this started. Same with SAG AFTRA as well. This was poorly planned from the start, and all it took was a few daytime talk show hosts threatening to go back to work to make them realize how boxed in they were.
I hope this union eventually goes bankrupt and dissolves, because mob rule and mob mentality is no way to run a union, that's nothing but tyranny, same with SAG as well.