Writers’ Strike Ends with Streamers Approving Bonus Payouts for Top Shows

After an almost record-breaking 148-day strike, the Writers Guild of America has successfully reached a new agreement with Hollywood studios, including streaming giants like Apple. The guild has hailed the deal as “exceptional,” and it is anticipated to receive overwhelming support when members cast their votes next week. With the labor strike now officially lifted, normal work in Hollywood can resume.

However, it’s important to note that while writing duties can recommence, filming remains on hold until Hollywood studios can also come to terms with the Screen Actors Guild, thus resolving the ongoing actors’ strike. The achievements made in the new WGA deal are expected to serve as a blueprint for the upcoming SAG negotiations, which could kick off as early as next week.

The agreement between the writers and the AMPTP (an alliance comprising major Hollywood studios like Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount, Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and more) outlines contract terms for the next three years. For detailed information regarding the new contract, you can visit the WGA website.

This deal includes substantial increases in minimum pay, safeguards against the use of AI tools, compensation and protections for writers involved in pre-greenlight development stages, and more. Notably, as the entertainment industry increasingly shifts towards digital streaming from traditional broadcast TV, this contract introduces a bonus payment structure for high-budget streaming content.

Under this provision, if a high-budget streaming show or movie garners more than 20% of a streaming service’s subscriber base within the first 90 days of release, the writer is entitled to a bonus equivalent to 50% of their standard residual payment. This translates to roughly a $16,000 bonus for a one-hour TV episode or $40,000 for a film.

The guild had been advocating for greater transparency in public data concerning viewership of their programs, but this was a point that the streaming platforms did not concede. Instead, the guild will receive confidential breakdowns of domestic and international viewing statistics for original series but is prohibited from making these figures publicly available. It can only disclose limited “aggregate” viewing data.

For Apple, reaching an agreement with the writers is a significant step toward resuming its content pipeline for Apple TV+ and resuming production for major titles like the long-delayed second season of “Severance.” However, the exact timeline for this resumption remains uncertain.

Even if a deal with the Screen Actors Guild is swiftly reached, the calendar now approaches the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. Productions must also navigate the availability of sets, actors, and crews, with studios jostling for priority for their respective backlog projects.