After 148 days, the Hollywood writer strike has come to an end.  On Tuesday, September 26th, the leaders of the Writers guild of America unanamously voted for its workers to return to work after the union’s negotiators met with Hollywood studios and other streaming services.  In these meetings, an agreement was reached for higher pay.  

The WGA (Writers Guild of America) wrote online, “The WGAW Board and WGAE Council also voted to lift the restraining order and end the strike as of 12:01 am PT/3:01 am ET on Wednesday, September 27th. This allows writers to return to work during the ratification process, but does not affect the membership’s right to make a final determination on contract approval.”

The majority of writers’ pay will increase by 5%, then another 4% by May of 2024, and then another 3.5% in May of 2025.  This contract will expire in May of 2026.  According to the WGA, writers were becoming concerned about the growth of streaming services because of the residuals that they would be paid when television shows were re-run.  Another agreement that was met to end the writer strike was that AI cannot “write or rewrite literary material.”  

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday September 26, 2023, the WGA spokesperson said, “We remain on strike in our TV/Theatrical/Streaming contract and will inform our members when there is negotiations news to share. We will not speculate regarding schedule or next steps.”  The 2023 Hollywood writer strike has now been one of longest in its history, starting on May 2, 2023.