So, as many of you may have heard, there was impending writers' strike on the horizon, with writers demanding things such as improved health care, parental leave and overtime, as well as an increase in residuals – among other things. And for a while, things were pretty touch-and-go (in fact sources claimed it seemed that a strike was eminent as close as an hour before the deadline).
However, as the headline spoils, the strike was averted officially at about 1 a.m. between the Writer's Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, with both agreeing on a new three-year contract.
Here's the full statement from the WGA:
Your Negotiating Committee is pleased to report that we have reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP that we can recommend for ratification.
In it, we made gains in minimums across the board – as well as contribution increases to our Health Plan that should ensure its solvency for years to come. And we further expanded our protections in Options and Exclusivity.
We also made unprecedented gains on the issue of short seasons in television, winning a definition (which has never before existed in our MBA) of 2.4 weeks of work for each episodic fee. Any work beyond that span will now require additional payment for hundreds of writer-producers.
We won a 15% increase in Pay TV residuals, roughly $15 million in increases in High-Budget SVOD residuals, and, for the first time ever, residuals for comedy-variety writers in Pay TV.
And, also for the first time ever, job protection on Parental Leave.
Did we get everything we wanted? No. Everything we deserve? Certainly not. But because we had the near-unanimous backing of you and your fellow writers, we were able to achieve a deal that will net this Guild’s members $130 million more, over the life of the contract, than the pattern we were expected to accept.
That result, and that resolve, is a testament to you, your courage, and your faith in us as your representatives.
We will, of course, provide more details in the next few days. But until then, we just wanted to thank you – and congratulate you. Your voices were indeed heard.
Now, it's not a completely done deal. The contract still needs to be ratified among the members, but this is still good news, regardless. I mean, we all remember how shitty movies and shows got last time we had a writer's strike…