Finally, the 146-day strike in the entertainment industry is nearing its conclusion. Hollywood writers, studios, and streaming platforms have reportedly reached a tentative agreement after five consecutive days of negotiations. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) were the two parties involved in the negotiations.
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The settlement comes well within the self-imposed deadline of Sunday evening.
The writers appear to have secured favorable terms in their negotiations. The anticipated three-year agreement is expected to feature increased royalties, mandatory staffing for television writing rooms, and protective measures concerning the use of artificial intelligence.
Next Steps
The WGA is currently finalizing the agreement with the AMPTP. It is worth mentioning that the AMPTP consisted of Chief executive officers including Bob Iger of Disney (NYSE:DIS), Netflix’s (NASDAQ:NFLX) Ted Sarandos, David Zaslav of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD), and Donna Langley of NBCUniversal.
Following this development, the negotiating committee will evaluate whether to recommend the agreement for a vote by the board of the WGA West and the council of the WGA East. These votes are expected to take place on Tuesday. The agreement will only be sent out for ratification by the WGA’s 11,000 members if both of these governing bodies give their approval.
One More Hurdle Remains
About 65,000 film and television actors had joined the writers on strike in mid-July, stating their own issues. However, there have been no discussions about resuming negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild so far. The agreement reached by the writers is likely to pave the way for negotiations with actors, as some of their demands align.
These strikes have had a significant impact on Hollywood, leading to disrupted production schedules for major studios. Additionally, crew members have been adversely affected, with many facing unemployment during the strike.
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