1 of 1 Screenwriters Guild President Meredith Stiehm and Screenwriters Guild President Fran Drescher protest during the May 2023 writers’ strike in Los Angeles Photo: Chris Pizzello/AP Photo Screenwriters Guild President Meredith Stiehm Screenwriters and Fran Drescher , President of the Actors Guild, protest during the writers’ strike in Los Angeles in May 2023 Photo: Chris Pizzello/AP Photo
The Screenwriters Guild of the United States (WGA) reached an agreement on Sunday evening (24) with the association that represents Hollywood studios. This could be the first step towards ending the category strike that began in May.
“We can say with great pride that this agreement is exceptional with significant benefits and protections for authors across all areas of our membership,” the WGA said in an email to its members, according to Variety.
“To be clear: no one should return to work until the union specifically authorizes them to do so. Until then we’ll still be on strike.”
The agreement still needs to be voted on and approved by the more than 11,000 WGA members.
SAG congratulated the WGA on the tentative agreement but said it would remain on strike until its own negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) were completed.
“While we look forward to the preliminary agreement between WGA and AMPTP, we remain committed to achieving the necessary conditions for our members,” the SAG said in a statement.
“Since the day the WGA strike began, SAGAftra members have stood side by side with writers on the picket lines. We continued our strike on our TV/film contract and continued to call on the CEOs of studios and streaming platforms and AMPTP to come back. “We are sitting at the table and getting the fair deal that our members deserve and demand.”
At the start of the strike, the group argued that workers’ wages had fallen due to the streaming revolution, leading to shorter TV seasons and lower residual payments.
The union also required a company to hire a minimum number of writers for a series for a certain period of time.
Another important point was the use of artificial intelligence (AI), with the guarantee that studios would not use the resource to create scripts based on previous work or that screenwriters would have to work from drafts created by technology.
