Hollywood screenwriters and studios have reached a tentative agreement to end the writers’ strike, which has brought the TV and movie industry to a standstill for nearly five months.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced the deal on its official social media account on Sunday evening. The three-year contract agreement — settled after five marathon days of renewed talks — must be approved by the guild’s board and members before the strike officially ends.
The agreement includes increased pay for writers, as well as protections over the size of writing staffs on shows in the streaming era and the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of scripts.
It is not yet clear when TV and movie production will resume, as the actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, remains on strike. SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 actors, voted to join screenwriters on the picket lines in July.
If the actors follow suit and reach a speedy settlement, production on scripted TV shows could begin in a matter of weeks and new episodes could be ready to air by early next year.