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The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike has officially ended.
On the 148th day of the work stoppage, the WGA West Board of Directors and the WGA East Board voted unanimously Tuesday to lift the strike order effective at 12:01 a.m. PT on Wednesday. After tentatively agreeing on a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). This means that writers can return to work from Wednesday even before the final vote on ratification.
The ratification vote is scheduled to take place from October 2 to October. 9. The WGA will hold member meetings on both coasts this week in person and on Zoom to discuss contract details. Given the enthusiastic support of the WGA negotiating committee, it is expected to be easily ratified by strike-weary members.
The vote to lift the strike order came after a unanimous vote by the WGA Negotiating Committee, WGA West Board of Directors and WGA East Board to send the contract to members for ratification.
WGA West will hold a members meeting Wednesday night at 7 PM PT at the Hollywood Palladium. The WGA East will take place the same night at the Manhattan Center at 6 p.m. ET. Zoom meetings will be held Thursday at 5pm PT and Friday at 11am PT.
The WGA also released the full 94-page contract and a summary of the new terms. The deal includes compensation gains, new requirements for minimum staff levels in TV writers’ rooms, improved payment terms for screenwriters, and protections for the use of artificial intelligence in the writing process. According to the union agreement:
- AI cannot write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material will not be considered source material under the MBA, which means that AI-generated material cannot be used to undermine a writer’s credit or separate rights.
- The Writer may choose to use artificial intelligence when performing the Writing Services, if the Company agrees and provided that the Writer follows applicable Company policies, but the Company cannot require the Writer to use artificial intelligence software (e.g., ChatGPT) when performing the Writing Services.
- The Company must disclose to the writer whether any materials provided to the writer have been generated by artificial intelligence or include materials generated by artificial intelligence.
- The WGA reserves the right to assert that the exploitation of authors’ materials for AI training is prohibited by the MBA Act or any other law.
The unanimous decision to end the strike comes two days after writers and Hollywood studios successfully concluded talks on a new three-year deal on September 24. After a marathon negotiating session, the two sides were able to reach compromises on the main sticking points. Including generative AI into the creative process, and minimum staffing requirements for writers’ rooms and streaming remains.
“We can say, with pride, that this deal is exceptional — with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every membership segment,” the WGA said in a statement announcing the tentative deal on Sunday.
The WGA and AMPTP have not yet released details of the tentative agreement, which WGA members will vote to ratify in the coming days. Before a contract can reach the guild for this vote, the WGA Negotiating Committee must first vote to send it to the WGA West and WGA East Board of Directors for approval, and the boards must approve the document before it is sent to the larger membership for a ratification vote.
The WGA’s vote to end the strike order officially puts an end to the work stoppage, which was still in effect Sunday, when the WGA informed members: “To be clear, no one may return to work until specifically authorized to do so by the WGA union. We remain “On strike until then. But, effective today, we will suspend WGA picketing. Instead, if you are able, we encourage you to join the SAG-AFTRA picket lines this week.”
SAG-AFTRA is still picketing AMPTP, waiting for its turn to return to the negotiating table amid its 75-day strike.
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