WGA Tentative Deal Part 1

 After 148 days on a gruelling strike, the WGA (Writers Guild of America) reached an agreement. When the negotiations began in spring earlier this year, the WGA made it very publicly known that they were not going to just take crumbs from the larger companies. This resulted in a complete stoppage of work, and their allies at SAG-AFTRA quickly came to their aid and began their own strike (which is still ongoing). Upon completion of the deal, the WGA made a public statement congratulating everyone who held strong during the tough times.

“We have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 MBA, which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points, subject to drafting final contract language.”

The tentative deal emerged after 5 straight days of negotiations, and seemed better than what most had expected to come out of the peace talks. Here is a rundown of what is found within the WGA tentative deal:

• The Writers Guild of America has successfully negotiated that at least 6 writers be employed for a television or streaming series that has been given the “go ahead” or “greenlit” for a minimum of 6 episodes per season.

• At least 3 writer-producers to be hired on all television or streaming series (this can include the showrunner according to the deal).

• Junior writers and staff writers needed will rise and fall on a sliding scale depending on the number of episodes greenlit.

• A series that has been greenlit for 7-12 episodes per season must hire at least 5 writers, while series that have been greenlit for 13 or more episodes must hire at least 6 writers.

• The deal makes an exception in the cases where all episodes are written by a single writer (solo-writer shows). In these solo-writer shows, the writer’s initial deal with the studio or company that hires them must have it in their initial contract that those writers must work solo so there is no miscommunication later.

• At least 2 writer-producers must be employed for the lesser of 20 weeks of production or the duration of production along with the showrunner. This will allow less experienced writers to gain the knowledge of what happens during production as well as the post-production process while hopefully making the job hunt less often during the off weeks.

• During the development process of a series, if 3 writers are hired then at least 3 writer-producers (including the showrunner) should be guaranteed 10 consecutive weeks of employment.

• If the development process continues further and a series is greenlit, at least 2 writer-producers who worked in the development process continue to be hired for the series.

• The new “success-based bonus” where as all writers who worked on a series will receive a bonus for original television shows and movies that are continual hits for streaming platforms. This “success-based bonus” covers high-budget titles and most series on major streaming platforms meet the high-budget requirements. This however means that older series that were originally written for live television, not streaming, do not qualify for the bonus. This new bonus will take effect for titles released after 1 January, 2024.

While the majority of the WGA are celebrating this well deserved victory, there are still several concerns in the functions of Artificial Intelligence within the deal… More on that in part 2 of the tentative deal that has been reached. More information can be found on Equity’s website here.

Also by Drew Janine:

Not For Profit Actors?

Benefits During Strikes

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