After almost 150 days on the picket lines, the WGA Strike may be coming to an end, as the WGA has reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on a new labor contract, according to TheWrap.
What’s Happening:
- The details of the agreement have yet to be made public, with the WGA board expected to vote on the new contract this Tuesday, if the contract language is completed by then.
- With a deal potentially going through, all WGA picket lines have been suspended, however writers are still officially on strike until authorized to return to work by the guild.
- The tentative deal came after talks resumed between the guild and AMPTP on Wednesday, a restart that was preceded by nearly a month of stalled negotiations and finger-pointing between the two sides as to who should make the next counterproposal.
- Escalating financial pressure and urging from showrunners brought both sides back to the table for a deal that provides “meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership.”
- Four studio CEOs — Disney’s Bob Iger, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav — were present throughout the first three days of negotiations at the AMPTP’s Sherman Oaks headquarters.
- In its memo, WGA encouraged members who are able to join SAG-AFTRA’s strike picket lines in solidarity.
- Focus will turn to the SAG-AFTRA strike next, where negotiations are expected to happen quickly.
What They’re Saying:
- From the memo to WGA members: “What we have won in this contract — most particularly, everything we have gained since May 2 — is due to the willingness of this membership to exercise its power, to demonstrate its solidarity, to walk side-by-side, to endure the pain and uncertainty of the past 146 days. It is the leverage generated by your strike, in concert with the extraordinary support of our union siblings, that finally brought the companies back to the table to make a deal.”
- “Though we are eager to share the details of what has been achieved with you, we cannot do that until the last ‘i’ is dotted. To do so would complicate our ability to finish the job. So, as you have been patient with us before, we ask you to be patient again — one last time.”