Hollywood Writers End Strike Following Successful Agreement Negotiations

Hollywood writers have formally ended their five-month strike, one of many longest within the historical past of the Writers Guild of America (WGA)—simply 5 days in need of breaking the file.

The WGA launched an announcement on Tuesday night, saying that writers might resume their duties beginning simply after midnight native time.

The union reached a “tentative settlement on a brand new 2023 MBA, which is to say an settlement in precept on all deal factors, topic to drafting remaining contract language,” the assertion says.

The small print of the settlement had been disclosed on Tuesday. The writers secured vital concessions in areas they deemed important, similar to residual funds for exhibits on streaming companies, enhanced transparency relating to viewership statistics for platforms like Netflix, and set minimums for writers in pre-development “mini rooms.”

Pointers on AI

The settlement additionally introduces clear tips regarding the usage of synthetic intelligence, which has raised issues amongst screenwriters following the latest emergence of ChatGPT and different AI chatbots.

“AI can’t write or rewrite literary materials, and AI-generated materials won’t be thought-about supply materials beneath the MBA, that means that AI-generated materials can’t be used to undermine a author’s credit score or separated rights,” the doc says.

Whereas writers will likely be allowed to make use of AI instruments throughout their writing course of with the corporate’s approval and in compliance with its insurance policies, the corporate can’t mandate them to make use of particular AI software program, similar to ChatGPT.

The corporate may also be obligated to inform the author if any supplies supplied to them had been crafted or embody AI-generated content material.

Lastly, the WGA maintains the authority to claim that the difference of writers’ content material for AI coaching would possibly breach the MBA or different related guidelines.

The settlement was reached following 5 days of intensive negotiations between the WGA and a consortium of studios, streaming companies, and manufacturing firms.

Members of the guild are scheduled to vote on the deal from 2 to 9 October, a step that observers consider ought to be a mere formality.

Nevertheless, Hollywood remains to be removed from returning to normalcy. Actors, represented by the SAG-AFTRA union, are nonetheless on strike.

Resolving this ongoing labor dispute, which has been in place since mid-July, would possibly stretch on for weeks.

Even after the actors return to work, it can seemingly take a number of extra months to get everybody again on set and compensate for the gathered delays.

Decrypt has reached out to the Writers Guild of America for remark and can replace this text ought to the group reply.