Washington, (UNI) The Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced Monday that it had reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on a new three-year contract, likely ending a strike that has lasted nearly five months.
“The WGA and AMPTP have reached a tentative agreement. This was made possible by the enduring solidarity of WGA members and extraordinary support of our union siblings who stood with us for over 146 days. More details coming after contract language is finalized,” the WGA said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
A new agreement is expected to be sent to striking WGA members for a vote after the remaining details are finalized, Variety reported, citing an email to guild members.
“Once the Memorandum of Agreement with the AMPTP is complete, the Negotiating Committee will vote on whether to recommend the agreement and send it on to the WGAW Board and WGAE Council for approval. The Board and Council will then vote on whether to authorize a contract ratification vote by the membership,” Variety quoted the email to strike participants as saying.
In May, the WGA said that thousands of Hollywood screenwriters began the strike, bringing the production of many television shows and movies to a halt. The writers have been demanding higher pay and, among other things, compensation for the changes in the pay structure since the advent of TV streaming, which has left writers out of lucrative syndication deals. CNN reported last week, citing a source, that striking Hollywood writers and studio executives ended 10 hours of talks without reaching an agreement.
The guild, which represents about 11,500 TV and film writers, had been negotiating with the AMPTP, which includes Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony. The last time Hollywood writers held a strike was in 2007, which lasted for 100 days and cost an estimated $2.1 billion in lost revenue.
