A deal has been made that’s set to end the historic screenwriters strike after almost five months, but there’s no news on any deals for the striking actors.
The deal was announced by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) alongside the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The AMPTP is the group that represents producers, streaming services and various studios when they need to head into negotiations.
As per the ABC the tentative deal has been made after 146 days of strikes.
“WGA has reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP,” the guild said in an email to members.
“This was made possible by the enduring solidarity of WGA members and extraordinary support of our union siblings who joined us on the picket lines for over 146 days.”
The deal comes after five days of talks amongst negotiators from both the WGA and AMPTP camps and it encompasses a three-year contract agreement but the exact terms of the agreement are yet to be announced.
Chief executives including Disney’s Bob Iger, Ted Sarandos from Netflix, David Zaslav of Warner Bros Discovery and Donna Langley of NBCUniversal reportedly all directly took part in the negotiations that could put an end to the strikes.
The strike was just five days short of being the longest in Hollywood history when the agreement was reached, with it being the longest writer’s strike in decades.
So, does this mean the strike is over?
Well, not exactly. The deal still has to be approved by the guild’s board and members before the strike officially ends. The last time a deal like this was made to end a writers strike was 2008 and it was approved by over 90 per cent of the guild’s members.
And whilst writers are anticipating being able to get back on the tools in the coming days, there’s no mention of discussions between the studios and striking actors leaving all those striking actors still unemployed for now.
Screenwriters typically went on strike more than any other group in Hollywood, but they had a number of years between strikes until this year. The last WGA strike was in 2007, with their longest strike in 1988.
It is also the first time since 1960 that actors and screenwriters have gone on strike together — when that 1960 strike happened though, actors were given a deal before screenwriters with the roles reversed this time around.
What does this mean for delayed shows & movies?
Issues arose almost immediately for various shows and movies after 11,500 WGA members walked off the job on May 2nd due to issues with pay, the size of writing staffs and the use of AI to write and create scripts.
This walk-off forced a hiatus for late-night talk shows and SNL as well as leaving a bunch of new seasons of our fave TV shows on pause with shows like Stranger Things Season Five left in limbo.
Loads of shows and movies were affected with new seasons of Euphoria, Abbot Elementary and The Last of Us all paused and movies like Deadpool 3 and Superman: Legacy put on hold.
In recent days, writers had been targeting talk shows that were still going to air and working around strike rules, with Drew Barrymore coming under fire for filming eps of her show despite the WGA strikes. Looks like if she had waited it out like everyone else she could’ve resumed work in the coming weeks anyways.
In terms of all the shows and movies that were left hanging due to the strikes, there isn’t any word on when they’re set to return, but I’m holding out hope that I will have Abbot Elementary back on my screen ASAP.
