COMP NEWS – After nearly 5 months of striking, TV and film writers with the Writers Guild of America have come to a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Products for a new contract that will last three more years.
After 148 days of striking, TV and film writers reached a tentative agreement with studios and streamers regarding their work contracts.
Every three years the Writers Guild of America renegotiates its entertainment writers’ contracts opposite the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios like Warner Bros. Discovery and streamers like Netflix.
The two organizations began negotiating on March 20 but failed to reach an agreement by the end of the last three-year period, and the WGA officially called for a strike to begin on May 2. Actors in the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists joined writers on the picket line for their own strike beginning July 14.
After several attempts at negotiation between writers and studios, the two parties finally reached a tentative agreement for a new contract on September 24, with the union ordering the strike to end on September 27. WGA members will vote on ratifying the agreement between Oct. 2 and 9, with some writers going back to work as early as next week.
The new agreement addresses many of the concerns of writers who say they frequently completed unpaid work or failed to receive compensation for their work.
The new agreement also addresses challenges movie writers have been facing.
A screenwriter could get hired to write a film treatment (or summary), a first draft of the screenplay and a final draft of the screenplay. And while they could be guaranteed pay for each step in the process, “you’re kind of at their mercy for when you get to go to that next step,” says Kyra Jones, 28, who’s written for TV shows like Hulu’s “Woke” and ABC’s “Queens” and writes features as well.
That makes financial planning extremely difficult. The new agreement sets protection from delays in payment, such as guaranteed pay nine weeks after commencement of a project, for writers getting twice the established minimum or less.
Feature writers have also previously been asked to make edits without pay. Now, “if someone is paid less than twice the minimum,” says Handel, “then they have to be given the opportunity to do the first rewrite and of course to be paid for that rewrite.”
Screenwriters will also see the same 50% bonus for successful films on streaming services. For example, those who’ve written a feature with a budget of over $30 million will receive a bonus of $40,500.
To read more about the WGA’s new contract, click here.
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