Emily Allgair, Editor

After 148 days, the Writers Guild Strike is finally over. Having ended on Wednesday Sept. 27 at 12:01 am PT, this strike is the second longest in the Writers Guild of America’s history, only to follow a 1988 labor action. Now that leadership has voted to return some 11,500 members back to work, tasks such as pitching, selling scripts, taking notes and taking meetings can all be resumed. 

Although the end of the strike has been agreed upon, Union members still need to ratify the contract. This will take place within the next few weeks, specifically between Oct. 2 and Oct. 9. Informal meetings that will be held in Los Angeles, New York, and even some on Zoom are taking place within the next few days to help those in leadership positions sell the deal to Union members. 

The union and studios announced a tentative agreement about a new three-year contract on Sept. 24 after a weekend full of figuring out the deal. While there was about a month that discussion was at a standstill, the two sides went back to the table around Sept. 20. In attendance were major industry names, including Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Disney’s Bob Iger, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley and Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav. While many topics were covered in these discussions, one that showed to be a difficult one was the issue of artificial intelligence. Eventually a compromise was established, a compromise that the WGA called “exceptional.”

Although the exact language has yet to be released, the memorandum of agreement included increases to minimum wage and compensation, increased health fund rates and pension, improvements to the terms of size of writing teams and length of employment and better residuals, especially in terms of streaming. As for artificial intelligence, productions and writers are still allowed to use AI, only as long as the use of the software does not eliminate completely or diminish the writers and their pay.

Despite the end of this strike, only half of the historic entertainment labor standoff has come to an end. SAG-AFTRA still remains out on strike, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, while they bargained with WAG, has not set any date for discussion with SAG-AFTRA. The issues being fought for here are mainly focused on general wage increases, streaming revenue, and, again, artificial intelligence.

In short, the writers are back. So even though the WGA strike has ended, without performers, production will be difficult. Hopefully the agreement made between the AMPTP and WAG foreshadows an agreement with SAG-AFTRA, meaning better conditions for everyone in the entertainment industry.