Writers Guild of America Suspends Hollywood Picketing After Nearly A Five-Month-Long Strike Upon Reaching Tentative Agreement w/ Studios

Writers Guild of America Suspends Hollywood Picketing After Nearly A Five-Month-Long Strike Upon Reaching Tentative Agreement w/ Studios

It’s been a long time coming!

According to reports, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has officially come to a provisional three-year deal that could end the 146-day writers’ strike in Hollywood.

As you may know, in May of this year, the film/television industry saw a major freeze in production after thousands of Writers Guild of America members chucked up the deuces to a number of high-profile studios.

Apparently, the walkouts were due to unfair contractual negotiations with screenwriters, which resulted in an (almost) five-month-long boycott.

When speaking of the poor compensation, the union released a statement:

“From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television to the creation of a ‘day rate’ in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers, they have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing an entirely freelance profession.”

via Bruce Massao (Pexels)

However, over the weekend, WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (parent company of Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Netflix, ABC, FOX, NBC, and Amazon, among others) reached a middle ground.

Although in-depth details of the terms are not yet available, it has been revealed that they’re currently working through the kinks, and the strike is ongoing until further notice. A green light on the new proposals is still needed from the organization’s overhead, which will (supposedly) be determined on Tuesday, Sept. 26.

The Writers Guild of America said in an announcement,

“We have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 MBA, which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points, subjecting to drafting final contract language.”

They continued:

“What we have won in this contract–most particularly, everything we have gained since May 2nd–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.”

Although the strike is continuing to loom (for the time being), picketing has been put on suspension for the writers but encouraged for the actors.

The union furthered,

“To be clear, no one is to return to work until specifically authorized by the Guild. We are still on strike until then. But we are, as of today, suspending WGA picketing. Instead, if you are able, we encourage you to join the SAG-AFTRA picket lines this week.”

What are your thoughts on this situation? Share them below!

[VIA]