have voted almost unanimously to approve the contract agreement reached by their union leaders that after nearly five months, while to find a way out of their own strike.
The Writers Guild of America announced Monday that 99% of the 8,525 members who cast ballots voted to ratify the deal.
The agreement was widely touted as a win by leaders, and widely praised by members, with major gains in payment, size of show staffs and control of in scripts. The result of the vote taken over the past week was never really in doubt.
鈥淭ogether we were able to accomplish what many said was impossible only six months ago,鈥� Meredith Stiehm, president of the WGA-East, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, nearly three months after their strike began, leaders of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were back in contract negotiations with studios on Monday, a week after talks restarted.
Unlike the marathon night-and-weekend sessions that brought an end to the writers strike, the actors and their employers are moving more methodically in their talks, and it was not clear how much progress was being made.
Writers guild leaders urged studios to grant actors鈥� demands and said their members would picket alongside them until a deal was reached.
The writers鈥� new contract runs thorough May 1, 2026, three years after their previous contract expired and they went on strike. After negotiations that saw direct involvement from the chiefs of Disney, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery, on Sept. 24. Two days later, when the board members voted to approve the agreement and send it to members, the and writers were released to work.
They began almost immediately, with late-night talk shows back on the air within a week and other shows, including 鈥淪aturday Night Live,鈥� soon to follow.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, streaming services and production companies in strike talks, congratulated writers for their vote, saying in a statement that the contract 鈥渞epresents meaningful gains and protections for writers鈥� and that it 鈥渋s important progress for our industry that writers are back to work.鈥�
READ ALSO:
