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The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the major Hollywood studios have reached a tentative deal that would end a strike that has lasted 146 days. The proposed three-year contract, which would still have to be ratified by the union’s 11,500 members, would boost pay rates and residual payments for streaming shows and impose new rules surrounding the use of artificial intelligence.
The writers’ strike was, in many ways, a response to the tectonic changes wrought by streaming. Shorter seasons for streaming shows and fewer writers being hired have cut into guild members’ pay and job stability, making it harder to earn a sustainable living in the expensive media hubs of Los Angeles and New York.
The studios came into negotiations with their own set of challenges. The pay-TV business is in decline because of cable cord-cutting and falling TV ratings, which have eroded vital sources of revenue. At the same time, the traditional companies have spent massively to launch robust streaming services to compete with Netflix, losing billions of dollars in the process.
The strike was one of Hollywood’s longest. After long lulls, talks accelerated in recent days when company chief executives came to the bargaining table. The two sides resumed negotiations Wednesday for the first time since Aug. 22.
The road to an agreement was rocky. The writers picketed major studios, effectively bringing much of Hollywood’s film and scripted TV production to a halt. Then, in mid-July, writers were invigorated when actors joined the work stoppages. The surge compounded the economic pain for the industry but also widened the lens on the labor struggle, making it more relevant to everyday Americans.
The dual Hollywood strikes, not seen since 1960, decimated the entertainment industry, further shuttering productions and financially clobbering related businesses, including talent agencies, casting firms, caterers and prop houses.
Studios delayed major film releases, including Warner Bros.’ science fiction epic “Dune: Part Two ,” because the strike prevented actors from promoting their movies. Without popular scripted shows including ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and CBS’ “Young Sheldon,” networks filled their fall TV schedules with reruns, sports and unscripted programming.
The entry of the actors into the “hot labor summer” also re-energized the WGA and other unions.
The writers effectively used social media platforms to wage a campaign highlighting the economic disparities between the raises they were asking for and the executive compensation packages of top studio executives. Corporate titans took the heat. Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney Co., incurred a backlash after telling CNBC that the demands of the writers and actors unions were not realistic while he was attending an exclusive investment banker-sponsored retreat for industry luminaries outside Sun Valley, Idaho.
One unnamed studio executive reportedly told Deadline, “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.”
These statements became rallying cries for WGA members, who enlisted a broad array of support from other Hollywood unions, including the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Teamsters.
After three months of striking, WGA and AMPTP agreed to meet last month, but it didn’t go well.
Netflix co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos and Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra were initially among the most active executives to try to facilitate compromises, but they soon were joined by other leaders, including Iger, NBCUniversal Chief Content Officer Donna Langley, CBS Chief Executive George Cheeks and Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav.
Talks fell apart after an Aug. 22 meeting with the four leading CEOs — Iger, Zaslav, Langley and Sarandos. Representatives for the writers described it as a “lecture” and a browbeating session in which they were pressured to accept an Aug. 11 proposal from the AMPTP.
After the meeting, the alliance released a summary of its proposal, causing much anger among writers for allegedly trying to go around the WGA’s negotiating committee. The effort deepened the mistrust between the two sides.
For their part, the executives wanted writers and the wider Hollywood community to see the offer on the table, hoping that move would put pressure on the guild to compromise.
The studio’s proposal offered wage increases and signaled a willingness from the alliance to negotiate on topics it previously was unwilling to discuss, such as sharing of viewership data with the WGA and staffing in writers’ rooms.
But the WGA’s negotiating committee felt the proposal did not go far enough. Writers on the picket lines were not impressed, calling the studios’ proposals “half-measures.” They also balked at a proposal to share viewership data on streaming programs with only six WGA staffers — and not with the writers who worked on the shows.
Frustration among workers, including film crew workers, continued to build as the strikes stretched beyond Labor
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