After less than a month of negotiations, the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced their first steps toward a deal on Saturday.
“Today the WGA Negotiating Committee unanimously approved a four-year tentative agreement with the AMPTP for the 2026 Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA),” the union posted on its website. “Crucially, it protects our health plan and puts it on a sustainable path, with increased company contributions across many areas and long-needed increases to health contribution caps. The new contract also builds on gains from 2023 and helps address free work challenges.”
In 2023, the WGA went on a strike that lasted an entire summer and cramped production schedules for months.
The AMPTP said in its announcement that it looks forward to “building on this progress as we continue working toward agreements that support long-term industry stability.”
Word of the agreement arrived a few weeks before the expiration of the union’s current contract on May 1.
It also comes amid an ongoing dispute between the Writers Guild of America West and its own staff union. The staff union includes workers in fields such as legal and communications. Dozens of them in Los Angeles went on an independent strike in mid-February. The employees allege WGA West management was engaging in unfair labor practices, union-busting activities and bad faith bargaining. In a social media post last week, the staff union said striking members had lost health insurance coverage. NPR has reached out to the WGA for comment on the internal strike. The WGA canceled its annual West Coast award show in March as a result of the staff union strike.
The new four year contract between the WGA and Hollywood studios is expected to contain new rules around the use of artificial intelligence, such as licensing for AI training. According to a social media post from entertainment industry journalist Matthew Belloni, it will also include pension increases and extra compensation for streaming video on demand. The proposed deal, which is a year longer than the usual agreements between the union and studios, was greeted with relief online by a number of writers, performers and producers.
The AMPTP is currently hashing out a new set of agreements with unions that represent screen actors and directors.
The new writers’ contract still requires ratification by union members, which could come later this month, the WGA said.
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