Since May 2023, the Writers Guild Of America (WGA), a union representing roughly eleven thousand writers in film, radio and online media, has been on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). AMPTP includes major companies such as Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Netflix, and Apple. The issue which prompted this strike in the first place was the increasing usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the entertainment sector in Hollywood. WGA has publicly stated their opposing stance on the use of AI, arguing for stricter regulations of AI usage in films and AI-written scripts. The WGA argued that relying on AI for the script writing processes serves as a major threat to the creative autonomy of writers. Additionally, they believe that AI usage would create massive job displacement for writers. As AI becomes a more dominant tool in the industry, writers worry that there will be a decrease in demand for humans, impacting their ability to work. Other issues related to the strike include compensation for streaming and fair wages which have also contributed greatly to the ongoing tension in Hollywood.
The strike eventually came to an end on September 24, 2023, as the WGA announced that it had come to a tentative three year contract agreement with AMPTP. This prompted an end to a five month-long strike, which was officially ended by WGA’s board and council on September 27, 2023 at approximately 12:01 PM.
The exact terms and conditions under the new contract have not been released yet, however WGA has revealed certain details under the new agreement through a simplified memorandum of agreement (MOA). Vox reported the following details under the new agreement: “The MOA includes increases to minimum wage and compensation, increased pension and health fund rates, improvements to terms for length of employment and size of writing teams (which had been shrinking drastically in recent years), and better residuals (which are like royalties), including foreign streaming residuals.”
Following the original concerns of writers on the topic of AI, the MOA has addressed the writer’s concerns for and included it under the terms and conditions in the MOA. In summary, the MOA states that AI is still free to use for both writers and the production process, however any impacts that it may have on writers and their pay, will be prohibited. Additionally the MOA states, “A writer can choose to use AI when performing writing services, if the company consents and provided that the writer follows applicable company policies, but the company can’t require the writer to use AI software (e.g., ChatGPT) when performing writing services.”
Originally due to the strike, many productions of film and movies have pushed back their release dates. This includes many anticipated films such as Deadpool 3, which was originally set to hit theaters on September 6, 2024, but later pushed back to November 8, 2024. Other films and television series that have paused production as a result of the strike include Blade, Avatar 3, Family Guy and Euphoria. However, following the end of the strike, it appears that many films have returned back to production. Popular late night show hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver have all taken to social media announcing the return of their shows.
