The Writers Guild of America’s 148-day strike is officially coming to an end at 12:01 Pacific on Wednesday, September 27. The guild’s three internal boards voted unanimously to end the strike after the WGA and studios came to a tentative agreement this week. Television and movie writers will return to work tomorrow, The New York Times reports. The guild’s 11,500 members will vote to ratify the contract starting Monday and concluding on October 9.
The terms of the tentative agreement have been revealed. Writers will receive bonuses from streaming services based on active subscribers and a 76 percent increase in residual payments for overseas streaming. There’s a guarantee that artificial intelligence will not be used to rewrite writers’ material or encroach on credits and compensation. A.I. may be used by writers if the company allows it, but studios cannot force writers to adopt the technology.
The concessions made by the WGA include the studios’ ability to experiment with A.I. tools. Studios did agree to a demand for minimum staffing for TV shows, though the agreement is for three writer-producers for first season shows running 20 weeks or longer. The guild was seeking a minimum of six writers.
