The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have reportedly reached a tentative four-year deal for a new contract.
Puck co-founder and reporter Matt Belloni first reported news of the tentative deal Saturday. The agreement represents a departure from standard practice, adding one more year to the WGA’s usual three-year contract. Additionally, it includes health plan and pension increases, bumps in streaming pay and protections that will police licensing for AI training.
The new contract is still subject to ratification following a vote by union members. The WGA and AMPTP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This tentative deal is a promising signal that the Writers Guild could avoid a strike after 2023’s historic work stoppage that lasted 148 days.
Separately, the Writers Guild of America West’s staff union has been on strike since mid-February.
The union’s current contract is set to expire May 1. WGA is the first of the Hollywood unions to reach a deal. SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild of America still need to reach an agreement with the studios.
The actors’ union began negotiations with the studios in February and extended those talks in March, but paused in order for the AMPTP to finish negotiations with the writers’ union. SAG-AFTRA and DGA’s contracts each expire June 30.
The Ryan Gosling-led “Project Hail Mary” rocketed to the top of the box office this weekend, marking a big win for Amazon MGM Studios.
The film — which stars Gosling as a science teacher who embarks on a space mission to save humanity — hauled in $80.5 million in the U.S. and Canada, making it the biggest domestic debut of the year so far. Globally, “Project Hail Mary” brought in $140.9 million.
The movie is an adaptation of a novel by Andy Weir, author of “The Martian” — another successful book-to-screen adventure. The big opening weekend for “Project Hail Mary” is a boost for Amazon MGM Studios, which had heavily promoted the film as an example of the big blockbusters it could produce.
“We believe deeply in the Hail Mary, and it’s clear audiences do as well,” Kevin Wilson, head of domestic theatrical distribution for Amazon MGM Studios, said in a statement. “What we’re seeing in theaters —the energy, the exit scores, the word of mouth — is everything we believed this film would deliver.”
Walt Disney Co. and Pixar’s “Hoppers” came in second at the box office this weekend with a domestic total of $18 million. The original animated film has now garnered $120.4 million in the U.S. and Canada since it debuted in theaters earlier this month.
Indian action film “Dhurandhar The Revenge” came in third with $10 million, followed by Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures’ horror film “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” and Universal Pictures’ romance “Reminders of Him” rounding out the top five.
It has been nearly three years since Hollywood writers went on a historic strike that lasted 148 days and ushered in an extraordinary period of labor unrest that virtually shut down the film and TV business.
Now, writers are poised to commence another round of bargaining with the major studios on a new three-year film and TV contract. Few observers think the union is girding for another showdown, especially at a time when many of its members are struggling to find work amid media consolidation and belt-tightening.
But in advance of negotiations that begin on Monday , union leaders are eager to dispel any perception that they might have scaled back their demands.
“Our members have shown many times that they’re willing to fight for what we need as a collective group,” WGA West President Michele Mulroney said in an interview. “And there’s no exception here.”
With its current contract expiring on May 1, the WGA hopes to improve its members’ healthcare plans, increase streaming residuals and expand AI protections.
Michele Mulroney speaks as the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and Writers Guild of America (WGA) join GLAAD in releasing the 11TH Annual GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index at The Village at Ed Gould Plaza Los Angeles LGBT Center in Los Angeles, California, on September 14, 2023.
(Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images)
Ellen Stutzman, the union’s executive director, said despite popular belief, the studios have weathered the transition from cable television to streaming “very well,” citing their efforts to maximize revenue with streaming bundling, rising subscription fees and advertising revenue.
“Writers are watching as Netflix and Paramount are fighting it out to acquire Warner Bros… Paramount is spending $81 billion,” said Stutzman. “There’s money for a fair deal for writers.”
The union leaders agree that this year’s negotiations are all focused on the sustainability of a writer’s career.
A spokesperson from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the major studios in negotiations, said in a statement that they look forward “to engaging in a constructive and collaborative bargaining process with the WGA. Through continued good-faith dialogue, we are confident we can reach balanced solutions that support talented writers while sustaining the long-term success and stability of our industry and its workforce.”
A top priority for the WGA is to increase the caps that companies contribute to the union’s healthcare plan. Union officials say the current cap has remain unchanged for two decades as healthcare contributions have steadily declined due to fewer writers working.
“AI is using [studios’] IP, which is stuff that we wrote to license these models,” said John August, the co-host of the “Scriptnotes” podcast and WGA’s negotiating committee co-chair. “With the Sora deal, it seems clear that the companies intend to monetize this IP for use with AI.”
August says the union will be skeptical toward arguments that it’s still too early to seek more safeguards around such a nascent industry, citing the union’s past history with the rise of DVDs and the internet and how profoundly those technologies changed the compensation for writers.
“If you’re taking the work that we created to generate AI outputs, we are owed money. They’re using our work to do something down the road,” added August.
WGA’s negotiating committee also is looking to boost streaming residuals, expand the minimum number of people allowed in a writers’ room and add protections for scribes working on pilots.
“We very much hope that lessons were learned in 2023 and that the AMPTP will come to the table ready to take our proposal seriously and to make a fair deal, and to do that quickly,” Mulroney said. “It provides stability for the companies and for our membership. It’s better for everybody.”
WGA is entering contract negotiations nearly a month after the actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, began its bargaining sessions. Last week, the AMPTP said it was extending negotiations another seven days.
