Writers Guild of America ratifies new three-year deal with US studios

CC: Vincentas Liskauskas (Unsplash)

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) membership has ratified the new three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), bringing an end to five-month long strike that ended late last month.

In total, 99% of WGA members voted to ratify the new minimum basic agreement, with 8,435 votes in favour and 90 votes against the deal, out of the 8,525 total that voted. Full WGA membership numbers stand at around 11,500.

The new contract runs from 25 September, 2023, until 31 May, 2026, and comes after union leaders voted “unanimously” for a new three-year deal two weeks ago.

WGA members put down tools in May, forcing production hiatuses for US studios including Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount and NBCUniversal, as well as streamers such as Netflix and Apple TV+. With the strike nearing 150 days before its end, the cost to the Californian economy was estimated to stand close to $5bn.

The new pact provides a minimum 5% pay increase, with a further 4% rise on 2 May 2024 and a 3.5% bump on 5 May 2025. Across three years, the rise equates to a compound rate of 13%, down from the almost 17% increase the WGA had initially sought but considerably up on the initial AMPTP offer, which the writers union had said would be 4% in year one, followed by annual upticks of 3% and 2% (overall a 9% increase).

The 94-page contract also includes a new formula for residuals, one of the major sticking points during discussions.

There were also wins for the WGA on the use of writers rooms. Where before there had been no minimum, from 1 December, development rooms (aka pre-greenlight rooms) with three writer-producers (including the showrunner) must be guaranteed 10 consecutive weeks of employment. For these rooms, a “development room premium” rate will apply for a staff writer that will stand at $6,959, while a story editor/executive story editor will receive $12,978 and a writer-producer gets $14,214.

On the use of artificial intelligence, the WGA said the deal forbid the use of AI to write or rewrite literary material. AI-created content will also not be viewed as source material.