A new offer has been made to screenwriters by Hollywood Studios, including concessions on issues around the use of AI and access to viewer data.
The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (representing companies including Warner Bros., Discovery Inc., and Paramount Global), agreed to ensure humans will be credited as writers of screenplays, instead of them being replaced with AI.
The companies will share data on the amount of viewed hours on streaming services, so writers can see the popularity of their programs.
Netflix Co-Chief Executive Officer, Ted Sarandos sought to reach a deal with writers, and Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger joined him in pressing for an agreement.
The Writers Guild of America (representing 11,500 scribes in the US), went on strike May 2nd, asking for higher pay and other changes to a contract they claimed hadn’t kept up with the rise of streaming TV and other technologies.
The strike, along with one by screen actors beginning in July, has majorly shut down production of new films and scripted TV shows.
On August 11th, the guild and studio met to deliver the new terms, and are scheduled to meet again to discuss the response of the union.
Writers on strike march with signs on the picket line on day four of the strike by the Writers Guild of America in front of Netflix in Hollywood, California on May 5, 2023. – More than 11,000 Hollywood television and movie writers are on their first strike since 2007 after talks with studios and streamers over pay and working conditions failed to clinch a deal. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
The offer includes a better-than-20% increase in residual payments made to writers when shows appear on networks other than the original one, along with proposed salary increases and a minimum duration of work for writers in “mini-rooms.”
The offer has a 5% increase in base pay for the first year, rising from the previously offered 4%, while the writers have been asking for 6% in the first year of a three year contract.
