After 146 days of striking, the Writers Guild of America has reached a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on a new contract for entertainment writers, according to an email sent out to union members that was sent out Sunday around 10 p.m.
“We can say with great pride that this deal is exceptional – with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership,” the WGA negotiating committee wrote to union members in the email.
Now that a deal is on the table, the next step for the WGA and AMPTP is to work out the language for the contract.
“What remains now is for our staff to make sure everything we have agreed to is codified in final contract language,” the committee wrote. The WGA said they hope union leadership will vote on the deal by Tuesday.
Once the agreement is complete by the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the negotiating committee will vote on recommending the agreement and sending it to the WGA West Board and WGA East Council. The board and council will then vote on sending the agreement out for approval by the rest of the union.
This deal came after roughly a month long hiatus from negotiations, where both parties said the other was refusing to negotiate. Negotiation committees from both WGA and the AMPTP resumed talks this past Wednesday.
Now that a deal has been agreed upon, WGA leadership has suspended all picketing, but said members will not be returning to work until authorization by the WGA.
“To be clear, no one is to return to work until specifically authorized to by the Guild,” the WGA committee wrote. “We are still on strike until then, but we are, as of today, suspending WGA picketing.”
Despite reaching a deal, the WGA is encouraging members to join the picket lines of the Screen Actors Guild – Federation of Television and Radio Artists who have been on strike since July 14.