Hollywood strike: WGA writers to end strike

After nearly five months, the WGA has come to an agreement with Hollywood studio bosses

Thousands of television and film writers have been off work for months in the biggest strike in Hollywood for more than 60 years.

Members of both the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) have been demanding better pay, working conditions and protection against AI replacing their jobs in the future.

The industrial action has disrupted production of films and TV shows for nearly five months.

Now the strike has ended after the WGA came to an agreement with Hollywood studio bosses, though WGA members still have to vote on whether to accept the deal with studio bosses.

What's the latest?

Members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike since May

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) said in a statement that union leaders had "voted unanimously to recommend the agreement" to its members.

The 11,500 WGA members will have the final say on whether or not to accept the offer and a vote will be held next month on whether to approve a three-year deal that offers pay raises and protections around use of artificial intelligence.

US talk shows are expected to be among the first programmes to return next month, but an ongoing strike by actors means most other productions still won't be able to resume.

What's happening with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG)?

Films and TV shows have had their release dates delayed as a result of the strikes

Members of SAG are still on strike which means film and TV production will be disrupted.

Big films in production like Ghostbusters 4, Mufasa: The Lion King and Avatar 3 and 4, are reported to be impacted by the strike action.

Financial experts estimate the writers' walkout has cost the US economy up to $5 billion (just over £4 billion).

Why did WGA and SAG go on strike?

The Writers Guild of America started their strike on 2 May 2023 and members of the Screen Actors Guild joined strike action on 13 July.

It's to do with the amount of profit made by the streaming giants.

Profit is how much money is made after all the films' expenses have been paid. If a film cost £2million to make and it earned £5m in the cinema, it will have made £3m in profit.

The strikes have caused delays to film releases

More money is made by films and TV shows when they're repeated - this money is called residual.

The SAG argues that not only should actors' initial salary be higher, but they should also get a better split of the residual profit.

The WGA also say the money they earn from streaming sites like Netflix and Disney Plus is much less than the earnings from a programme broadcast on TV and then repeated.

Another reason they are unhappy is to do with fears about AI. You've probably seen convincing computer-generated videos of famous people, or heard deepfakes of people's voices.

Actors and writers are concerned this technology will be used to replace humans.

AI was used in Star Wars series The Mandalorian in 2021 to make Luke Skywalker young again

The AMPTP said it would protect the digital images of actors, and require their permission for them to be used or changed, in what they called a "groundbreaking" proposal.

But the SAG's chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, said that wasn't good enough, because extras - people who appear in the background of films - would be scanned and only paid for one day's work, but then have their likeness used forever without any further payments.