Hollywood writers strike breakthrough: 'Exceptional' tentative deal, but nothing yet for actors

After picketing for months, striking Hollywood writers will vote on a proposed deal their union has hailed as "exceptional". But it would be far from back to business as usual in Hollywood even if they endorse it.

Striking film and television writers and major studios may have reached a resolution to their dispute. Source: Getty / Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times

KEY POINTS

• Writers Guild of America members will vote on a proposed deal that could end a months-long strike.
• The union says the proposed agreement would bring "meaningful gains and protections for writers".
• But talks have not yet resumed between studios and striking actors.

Union leaders and Hollywood studios have reached a tentative agreement to end a historic screenwriters strike after nearly five months, though no deal is yet in the works for striking actors.

The three-year contract agreement — settled on after five marathon days of renewed talks by negotiators for the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and an alliance of studios, streaming services and production companies — must be approved by the guild's board and members before the strike officially ends.

The WGA, which represents 11,500 film and television writers, labelled the deal "exceptional" and said it was one that would bring "meaningful gains and protections for writers".

"This was made possible by the enduring solidarity of WGA members and extraordinary support of our union siblings who joined us on the picket lines for over 146 days," the negotiating committee said in a statement on Sunday.

But as writers prepare to potentially crack open their laptops again, it's far from back to business as usual in Hollywood, as talks have not yet resumed between studios and striking actors. Crew members left with no work by the stoppage will remain unemployed for now.

The proposed solution to the writers strike comes after talks resumed on Wednesday for the first time in a month. Chief executives including Bob Iger of Disney, Ted Sarandos of Netflix, David Zaslav of Warner Bros. Discovery and Donna Langley of NBCUniversal reportedly took part in the negotiations directly.

About 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America walked off the job 2 May over issues of pay, the size of writing staffs on shows and the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of scripts. Actors, who joined the writers on strike in July, have their own issues but there have been no discussions about resuming negotiations with their union yet.

The writers strike immediately sent late-night talk shows and Saturday Night Live into hiatus, and has since put dozens of scripted shows and other productions into limbo, including forthcoming seasons of Netflix's Stranger Things, HBO's The Last of Us, and ABC's Abbot Elementary, and films including Deadpool 3 and Superman: Legacy. The Emmy Awards were also pushed from September to January.

The tentative deal comes after five marathon days of renewed talks by negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and an alliance of studios. Source: Getty / Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times

More recently, writers had been targeting talk shows that were working around strike rules to return to air, including The Drew Barrymore Show, Real Time With Bill Maher, and The Talk. All reversed course in the face of picketing and pressure, and are likely to quickly return now.

The combined strikes made for a pivotal moment in Hollywood as creative labour faced off against executives in a business transformed and torn by technology, from the seismic shift to streaming in recent years to the potentially paradigm-shifting emergence of AI in the years to come.

The walkout by screenwriters was their first since 2007 and their longest since 1988.

There is no deal is yet in the works for striking actors. Source: Getty / John Nacion

On 14 July, more than two months into the strike, the writers got a dose of solidarity and star power — along with a whole lot of new picketing partners — when they were joined by 65,000 striking film and television actors.

It was the first time the two groups had been on strike together since 1960.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group that represents employers in negotiations, first reached out to suggest renewing negotiations in August. The meetings were short, infrequent, and not productive, and talks went silent for another month.