WGA Reaches Tentative Four-Year Deal With AMPTP
The Writers Guild of America reached a tentative four-year contract with the AMPTP on Saturday, becoming the first above-the-line union to close a deal in this round of negotiations. The agreement includes AI protections, increased streaming residuals, and a $37 million cash infusion into the WGA health plan, which had been running at a deficit. Talks began in mid-March and wrapped in under four weeks, compared to the 148-day strike in 2023. New AMPTP head Greg Hessinger, a former CBS labor director and ex-SAG CEO, took a less adversarial approach than his predecessor. The deal still requires ratification from WGA membership; SAG-AFTRA negotiations are expected to resume in June.
THE BREAKDOWN
The WGA deal sets the floor for what SAG-AFTRA and the DGA will negotiate this spring and summer. The AI protection language will be scrutinized by both unions and their agents as a benchmark for acceptable terms. The four-year term means locking in AI protections for longer, while giving studios stability to accelerate production planning and hiring. For agents, the improved streaming residuals directly affect packaging fees and co-production deal math, and those numbers should be revisited now. If SAG-AFTRA follows the WGA lead in June, the above-the-line contract landscape could stabilize considerably faster than most expected.
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