WGA and AMPTP reach tentative agreement to end strike

Just under 150 days after it first started, the Writers Guild of America strike is nearing its official end, as the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have reached a tentative agreement.

In a joint statement (via Deadline), both the WGA and AMPTP said, “The WGA and AMPTP have reached a tentative agreement.” That’s simple enough but really all we need at this point considering that the WGA strike, coupled with the SAG-AFTRA strike, put the industry at a virtual standstill.

Separately, the WGA told their members, “We have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 MBA, which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points, subject to drafting final contract language.”

Officially, the WGA strike is still going on even though all picketing has been ordered to stop, which will give Drew Barrymore a nice break…But before the strike ends and writers can resume their work, the union will take the conditions — undisclosed to the public at this time — to a vote to decide if they will then take them to the Writers Guild of America West Board and the Writers Guild of America East Council.

After months of dead-end negotiations, delays and some nasty situations that found those within the industry coming to blows, things really looked like they would be concluding with the WGA strike once they began meeting on a daily basis just last week. At the time, reps for the WGA sat down with some major names: Disney’s Bob Iger, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, and Universal’s Donna Langley.

At the time of the strike — which began after more than a month of failed talks between the WGA and the studios — the guild issued the following statement: “Though we negotiated intent on making a fair deal – and though your strike vote gave us the leverage to make some gains – the studios’ responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing. We must now exert the maximum leverage possible to get a fair contract by withholding our labor. Members of the Negotiating Committee, Board and Council will be out with you on the picket lines.” The most recent strike prior to this one lasted from November 2007 to February 2008.

This tentative agreement between the WGA and the AMPTP also gives movie fans hope in that perhaps it indicates that the AMPTP could soon settle with SAG-AFTRA, who launched their own strike back in July.

What are your thoughts on the WGA strike coming to an end? What do you hope the writers got in the end? Let us know in the comments section below.