After months of tension in the entertainment world, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have both officially finished striking and come to contracting agreements with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). But what exactly were writers and actors fighting for? And what did they gain from their strikes?

The Writers Guild of America

The WGA strikes ended Wednesday, Sept. 27 and lasted for 148 days in total after reaching a tentative agreement with the AMPTP. The WGA’s demands for their new contract primarily centered around better payment methods for writers, abolishing the use of “mini-rooms,” and blocking artificial intelligence from expanding in the screenwriting world.

In their negotiations with the AMPTP, the Writers Guild demanded an increase in base salary, as well as implementing residual payments for movies and shows on streaming services. For their base salaries, the writers requested their payment raise from 4% of all profits to 6%. For most Minimum Basic Agreements (MBAs), screenwriter base payments were raised to 5%— not quite what they’d asked for, but an improvement nonetheless.

The residual payments were another major point of disagreement between the WGA and AMPTP, but the Writers Guild would not back down. For those who are unfamiliar, residuals are long-term payments for the reuse of a credited writer’s work after its initial release. Essentially, any time an episode of Friends or Seinfeld plays on daytime TV, their writers get another paycheck. However, streaming services like Netflix and Hulu did not offer residuals to their writers, who were already receiving an abysmal paycheck for their scripts as it was. 

“I do a show [Whose Line Is It Anyway] that is double and triple and quadruple pumped in the United States and maybe 50 countries, and I don’t see any residuals,” said Aisha Tyler, a writer who has worked on popular shows like Criminal Minds and The Last Thing He Told Me. “I know it’s been very frustrating to me and my co-stars. It’s theft. We generate all of the creative output on that show. We are the writers, we are the performers, we do everything and we don’t get compensated for it. I already threw a couple of temper tantrums so you can see I’m a bit more sanguine about it now, but we’ve been fighting about it for years and it’s just pure and simple. It is creative theft.”

Residuals were non-negotiable for the WGA; for past writers, these were the payments that ensured their mortgages were paid and food was on the table. Thankfully, after many months of failed negotiations, the WGA made solid ground. In their tentative contract agreement, all made-for-streaming shows will receive a 26% residual rate, and all “high budget” shows and movies made-for-streaming now receive a bonus based on their viewership; for movies, the bonus is $40,5000, and for shows this bonus ranges from $9,000 to $16,400 per episode— altogether, a big win for the writers. 

Other pay-related deals made in their new contract were raises in health and pension contribution rates, as well as increases in initial compensation for high budget feature-length streaming entertainment— now $100,000, an 18% increase from the previous rate.

Outside of payment needs, the Writer’s Guild also negotiated for the abolishment of “mini-rooms,” which are small groups of writers who work on a show’s script during the “pre-greenlit” phase, but are not permitted to join in actual production. Mini-rooms limited not only the pay writers received, but also the needed experiences young writers were able to have in the workforce to expand on their careers.

“I did not just write my script, turn it in, and go away,” said Game of Thrones writer and experienced WGA member, George R. R. Martin. “I sat in on the casting sessions. I worked with the directors. I was present at the table reads… There is no film school in the world that could have taught me as much about television production as I learned on TWILIGHT ZONE during that season and a half.”

Martin’s time on the picket line, along with the rest of the WGA’s, was not in vain; in the Writers Guild’s tentative contract now ensures writers will work in post-greenlit rooms based upon the number of episodes in a season (shows with six episodes or less require a minimum of three writers in post-greenlit rooms, ones with seven to twelve require a minimum of five writers, ones with thirteen or more require a minimum of six writers, and all shows require at least three writer-producers).

In addition to new requirements for post-greenlit rooms, the WGA’s tentative contract also outlines new rules for development rooms: “Once 3 writers are convened before a series order, at least 3 writer-producers (including the showrunner) are guaranteed 10 consecutive weeks of employment.”

The last major facet to the WGA’s contract negotiations was the looming threat of artificial intelligence (A.I.). With concerns of A.I. replacing writers in jobs traditionally held by them and potentially leading to pay decreases for writers, the WGA demanded firm regulations of all future use of A.I. in the entertainment industry. Though the AMPTP initially put up a fight, they eventually agreed to the WGA’s terms: “AI can’t write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material will not be considered source material under the MBA, meaning that AI-generated material can’t be used to undermine a writer’s credit or separated rights. A writer can choose to use AI when performing writing services, if the company consents and provided that the writer follows applicable company policies, but the company can’t require the writer to use AI software (e.g., ChatGPT) when performing writing services. The Company must disclose to the writer if any materials given to the writer have been generated by AI or incorporate AI-generated material. The WGA reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law.”

Though the WGA did not necessarily obtain all of the benefits they had hoped for in their contract negotiations, they overwhelmingly succeeded in accomplishing the majority of their goals, and with 99% of all Guild members voting to ratify the tentative agreement, they were clearly nothing short of thrilled. However, entertainment strikes did not end with WGA on Sept. 27th, and actors continued to negotiate their contract until Tuesday Nov. 9th of this week.

Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

Starting July 14, SAG-AFTRA began striking after they and the AMPTP failed to come to an agreement for their contract renewal. However, SAG-AFTRA has reached a tentative deal with the AMPTP, ending the strike at a historic 118 days— the longest period the Screen Actors Guild has ever striked for. SAG-AFTRA’s primary focus was to improve their pay and working conditions, as well as restrict future use of A.I. in relation to screen acting.

For payment, SAG-AFTRA’s main concern involved residual payments in streaming services. Similarly to screenwriters, actors received long-term payments for the reuse of their credited work after its initial release, but these actors were not paid in residuals for any work done with streaming services, making it increasingly difficult for screen actors to make a living. In addition to residual payments, actors demanded a raise in pay minimums.

“As you know, over the past decade, your compensation has been severely eroded by the rise of the streaming ecosystem,” said SAG-AFTRA president, Fran Drescher, at the beginning of the strike.

Though the AMPTP was quick to dismiss many of SAG-AFTRA’s demands surrounding pay in the early weeks of the strike, the latest round of negotiations seem promising.

In addition to pay related concerns, SAG-AFTRA’s other major contributor to the strike focused on A.I. restriction. Union members quickly made known their concerns for A.I. potentially being used to digitally replicate actors without their consent or giving them compensation.

“We think it is absolutely vital that this negotiation protects not just our likenesses, but makes sure we are well compensated when any of our work is used to train AI,” said SAG-AFTRA members in an open letter to the union.

Again, the AMPTP initially resisted all negotiation surrounding the use of A.I. in connection to screen actors, but hopes are high for the tentative agreement between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP.

As of yet, SAG-AFTRA’s potential contract has not been released to the public, as it is still under review, but the SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical Committee has unanimously approved the tentative agreement, which is reportedly worth over $1 billion.

This new agreement “gives SAG-AFTRA the biggest contract-on-contract gains in the history of the union, including the largest increase in minimum wages in the last forty years; a brand new residual for streaming programs; extensive consent and compensation protections in the use of artificial intelligence; and sizable contract increases on items across the board,” said the AMPTP in a statement.

What does this mean?

With these current wins for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, artists are protected— or, at least those on screen are. In the rapidly changing entertainment industry, writers and actors are being prioritized by force, and now more than ever, unions are a necessity. 

However, nothing is settled. SAG-AFTRA’s future is still undecided at this point, and the WGA’s current contract will last until May 6th of 2023, where they will again renegotiate with the AMPTP. Change is once again on the horizon, but union members have bought themselves time, and survived two lengthy strikes and several rounds of bitter negotiation; the future looks leagues brighter than it did before, and that is something to be proud of.