In the US, screenwriters and studios have tentatively agreed to terminate a 146-day strike that has crippled the entertainment sector and prevented many fans from seeing their favorite shows.
The strike, which has been affecting Hollywood for the longest time in decades, may soon come to an end, allowing writers to return to their jobs and paving the way for certain TV series to resume airing as early as next month.
The simultaneous, independent actor strike that started in July is unaffected by the proposed deal.
What is known about what happens next is listed below.
Which programs will return?
The Last of Us, Billions, Stranger Things, The Handmaid’s Tale, Hacks, Severance, Yellowjackets, and Abbott Elementary are among the programs that are expected to receive their writers back.
Not everyone will be able to start filming right once due to the ongoing actors’ strike.
TV programs without performers, such daytime discussion shows and late-night talk shows, would likely return to airing first.
The hosts of primetime talk programs like Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and Seth Meyers may now resume their broadcasts. Some of them may return to broadcasting as soon as October, audiences may anticipate.
The Drew Barrymore Show, The Jennifer Hudson Show, and The Talk are all set to be airing again very soon.
A source told the Hollywood trade magazine Variety that “their productions would all be in shape.” For those concerts, they rehired their team. Everyone would be there and prepared, and they could likely move fast once they made the decision to do so.
TV comedies and dramas will return later due to the actors’ strike and the challenging logistics involved in resuming large-scale productions.
The main participants in the writers’ strike who are they?
President of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), Carol Lombardini, has been in charge of contract negotiations with all of Hollywood’s guilds and unions for the past 14 years, including the most recent round.
Ms. Lombardini serves as a spokesperson for studios, production firms, and streaming services in that capacity.
Ellen Stutzman, the Writers Guild’s main negotiator, has been in the other camp.
She started in the post in February, making her a relative novice. Contract negotiations started just two weeks later, which finally resulted in the strike that was declared in May.
Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, Donna Langley, the head of NBCUniversal, David Zaslav, and Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix, all played significant roles in restarting negotiations with authors over the weekend.
What aspects of the new accord will affect writers?
However, it has been claimed that the Writers Guild was able to secure concessions on several of its main requests, including an increase in royalties from streaming material. The exact text of the agreement is yet unknown.
The studios also agreed to lower staffing requirements for shows.
The employment of artificial intelligence (AI) in the business was one of the final significant obstacles to be overcome in the discussions, according to US media sources.
While the specifics of the agreement won’t be revealed until it is finalized and made public, the authors Guild is said to have been successful in obtaining a guarantee that AI will not affect authors’ credits and payment for their work.
The Guild praised the draft deal as “exceptional” with “meaningful gains and protection for writers” in an email to its members that was made public online.
The message continued, “And although we are ready to share the specifics of what has been accomplished with you, we cannot do that until the final ‘i’ is dotted. “To do so would make it more difficult for us to complete the task.”
The AMPTP just said that “the WGA and AMPTP have reached a tentative agreement” in response to the proposed pact, which was far more subdued.
Will the actors’ strike also be over soon?
The 160,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, more often referred to as SAG-AFTRA, who are now on strike, are not affected by the end of the writers’ strike in the short term.
Members of the organization staged a walkout in July over a similar conflict involving wage difficulties and the application of AI in the sector.
SAG-AFTRA and the studios have not scheduled any negotiations as of yet since the latter objected to certain of the actors’ proposals, such as allocating 2% of streaming earnings for the cast to split.
SAG-AFTRA praised their counterparts for their “incredible strength, resiliency, and solidarity” in a statement following the announcement of the potential agreement with the Writers Guild, but made it plain that the organization’s strike will go on as planned.
Also asked to “return to the table” and “make the fair deal that our members demand and deserve” were studios and streaming providers in the statement.