The five-month-long strike which has crippled the writing guild of America is officially over. Writers Guild of America has reached an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and they are officially back at work starting from today. A ratification vote is scheduled for between 2 and 9 October.
While the fleshed-out details of the agreement include a massive 94-page deal, a summary has been posted online. This will make it easy to understand exactly what the terms are which have been met between the two parties. The agreement will be set in place and valid from 25 September 2023 to 1 May 2026.
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The agreement covers all sorts of restrictions in the industry and especially touches on the use of AI tools and rules about streaming data and bonuses based on the number of views content gets.
This viewership bonus covers titles on Netflix and other streaming platforms. It will see writers get incentives depending on how successful projects are which they work on.
AI tools also “can’t write or rewrite any literal material”. AI-created content is also not considered source material under the MBA. Companies can’t require writers to use AI tools such as ChatGPT and they have to be transparent on any materials a writer has been given which may have been generated by AI.
While there’s a lot more to the agreement than just that, these two points are the biggest focus issues pertaining to the Writers Guild of America strike. This is also good news for the industry but it doesn’t mean production will suddenly pick up overnight. The Writers Guild of America strike is over but. The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) are still on strike.
The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) represents about 160,000 people in the entertainment industry. Until both the writers and actors resume work, productions are likely to remain paused.
You can read the summary of the current agreement here.
