WGA and AMPTP Reach a Deal to End the Writers Strike

After almost five months, the Writers Guild has reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to end the strike. “We have reached a tentative agreement on a new 2023 MBA,” the WGA said in a statement, “which is to say an agreement in principle on all deal points, subject to drafting final contract language.”

As the deal is finalized, the writers are still technically on strike, but picketing is now suspended. It is also possible that writers would be allowed to return to work during the ratification vote. Alternatively, the writers may not go back to work until AMPTP also reaches an agreement with SAG-AFTRA, reinforcing the solidarity between the writers’ and actors’ unions.

Because soaps are under a different contract, the actors did not go on strike with the writers, so THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL, DAYS OF OUR LIVES, GENERAL HOSPITAL, and THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS have continued production even as primetime series and films have had to shut down. However, the shows have been written by non-union writers or “fi-core” writers who have given up their union benefits in order to continue working.

“We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional — with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership,” the WGA said in its statement. Hopefully, an agreement can also be reached between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA so that strike can come to an end soon as well.