Happy ending in Hollywood. The studios and the writers’ union have agreed in principle to end the writers’ strike that paralyzed the film and television world in the United States for nearly five months. After five days of negotiations, the parties managed to create the basis for a new collective agreement. The agreement, announced Sunday evening, triggers one of the longest labor disputes in the industry at 146 days. “We can say with great pride that this agreement is exceptional and provides significant benefits and protections for all writers,” the Writers Guild of America (WGA) union said in a statement. The screenwriters’ organization’s leadership must ratify the pact by vote on Tuesday. Studios must now focus on the actors’ union so that productions can resume activities.
After months of tension and a failed attempt to reach an agreement in mid-August, the parties resumed negotiations on Wednesday. On this occasion, there was a sense of urgency on both sides as they believed that a lack of harmony would have prolonged the conflict until 2024. In this sense, the main managers of four studios took part in the meetings to show their willingness. The heads of the companies sitting at the negotiating table described the offer before them as “the best and the last”. The parties aim to work out the new contract before the Yom Kippur holidays, which began on Sunday evening.
Disney’s Bob Iger was present for three days; David Zaslav, Warner Bros. Discovery; Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley. The heads of the studios went to the offices of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the English acronym AMPTP. Over the weekend, his representatives worked out the remaining details with the WGA. To ensure that the parties did not leave the negotiating table, the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, was also involved. According to a conservative estimate from California State University Northridge, the strike cost the state about $3 billion.
In announcing the agreement in principle, union leaders made it clear that “no one can return to work yet” until the WGA gives the green light. “We remain on strike until this point,” the statement said. The organization’s 11,500 members must vote on the agreement. This will happen after Tuesday, when the leaders of the union organization will ratify the pact once the final version of the text is available. There will be no surprises in the vote, as there is satisfaction and even joy among the screenwriters about the decision. Union members praise the work of the negotiating committee led by Ellen Stutzaman.
The pickets that have been taking place in front of the doors of the main studios in Los Angeles and New York since May 2nd have been canceled. Had the strike reached September 30, it would have become the longest in WGA history, exceeding the 153 days of the 1988 strike. However, the actors will continue to march until they reach a new contract.
According to the authors, the agreement was paved by the studios’ decision to reformulate in the collective agreement the extent that the weight of artificial intelligence will have in the scripts, as well as some minimum rules for the writers’ rooms. Screenwriters complained during the strike that studios were abusing so-called mini-rooms, a more compact version of writing teams. These were used to develop more content for streaming platforms in less time and with fewer hands, making the work precarious. The new agreement sets a minimum number of people who must write a television series.
Protest by writers and actors in Los Angeles on September 13th. MARIO ANZUONI (Portal)
One of the WGA’s most urgent demands was to revise the final payment model. This is the amount that the members of a production receive from the companies for the productions in which they participate. The union argued that the previous system worked in the era of television networks, but that an adjustment was needed for the era of streaming. Authors, producers and actors received barely a fraction of the money for a series that was considered a success in the digital age. The studios have agreed to change the formula to increase compensation depending on viewership. This section is important to defuse the conflict with SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union that has 160,000 members and has been on strike for 72 days.
After failed negotiations in August, pickets outside studio doors have regained strength this month. The writers flexed their muscles when Drew Barrymore announced that she would continue filming her CBS talk show. This aroused the ire of the scriptwriters, who felt that the popular actress was violating the strike call. Barrymore defended himself by saying that many members of the production were suffering financial difficulties after months of unemployment. The pressure against the star was very strong. After a week, Barrymore tearfully apologized in a video posted on social media and announced that she would back out upon her return. This was followed by other television productions reporting that they would not return until the strike was resolved.
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