The Writers Guild of America reached a tentative agreement on Tuesday with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers that outlines the use of artificial intelligence, streaming residuals, weekly pay increases and more.
The term of agreement is valid from Sept. 25 of this year to May 1, 2026. Writers were able to return to work today after the 148-day strike.
Among other aspects, the agreement has several AI protections for the writers.
AI is prohibited from writing or rewriting literary material. AI-generated material will not be recognized as source material under the agreement. While a writer is at liberty to use AI as they see fit so long as it is compliant with company policies, companies may not require them to do so. All AI-generated materials presented to the writer must be disclosed as such, according to a WGA summary of the agreement.
The AMPTP agreed to disclose the total number of domestic and international streaming hours to the WGA provided that the information not be made available to the public. WGA is permitted to share this data with their members in an aggregated form.
The WGA negotiated streaming residuals based on viewership. According to a WGA summary, projects written under streaming services such as Netflix “would receive a bonus of $9,031 for a half-hour episode, $16,415 for a one-hour episode, or $40,500 for a streaming feature over $30 million in budget.”
Staff writers, story editors and executive story editors will see increases in weekly pay — effective immediately for staff writers and on the Sunday after ratification for story editors and executive story editors. Minimum weekly pay will be raised by 12.5% over the course of the deal.
“I could see a scenario where Hollywood is back up and running by the end of October, start of November — just in time to start churning out episodes of TV series,” Variety editor Michael Schneider said — provided that the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists can reach an agreement of their own.
Entertainment experts say that production for late night shows, new daytime shows and game shows can be expected to return, Lauren Coronado reports.
WGA members are scheduled to vote on the agreement between Oct. 2 and Oct. 9