Writers Guild officially ratifies new contract after months-long strike

The rank-and-file members of the Writers Guild of America have ratified their new contract with Hollywood studios, bringing the union's second-longest strike in history to an official close — though their actor counterparts represented by SAG-AFTRA remain on the picket lines.

In a letter to WGA membership Monday, East and West Coast presidents Meredith Stiehm and Lisa Takeuchi Cullen announced that 99 percent of members had voted to ratify the 2023 Minimum Basic Agreement, with only 90 "no" votes. The new contract will be in effect from Sept. 25, 2023, to May 1, 2026.

The terms of the contract include pay raises, regulations for the use of artificial intelligence, provisions for health care, increased residuals from streaming, and longer minimum periods of work for writers in development rooms and post-greenlight rooms.

The studios of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers congratulated the WGA in a statement Monday and said the deal "represents meaningful gains and protections for writers. It is important progress for our industry that writers are back to work."

At 148 days, the work stoppage was only five days short of the 1988 writers' strike, the longest ever. After months of picketing, a tentative agreement was struck with the AMPTP on Sept. 23.

Meanwhile, the actors' strike, which started July 14, has yet to be resolved, preventing Tinseltown from returning to business as usual. SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP recently returned to the bargaining table to try to reach a deal.

"As our negotiations come to an end, we won't forget our SAG-AFTRA siblings who have supported writers every step of the way," the WGA presidents said in their letter Monday. "We call upon the AMPTP to negotiate a deal that addresses the needs of performers and, until they do, we ask WGA members who can to continue to show up on their picket lines in solidarity."

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