Hollywood strike
US authors accept new contract
Superstars like Richard Gere also showed solidarity with the strikers.
© imago/ZUMA Wire
The strike by US film and television writers that has been going on since May has come to an end. A new employment contract also regulates how the AI is handled.
The month-long strike by writers in the US film and television industry has ended. Like their union WGA (Writers Guild of America) on its website, 99 percent of all 8,500 WGA members voted to accept a newly negotiated employment contract with only 90 “no” votes. This means that the strike, which has been ongoing since May 2023 and brought the US film and television business to a standstill in recent months and made headlines around the world, is history. However, actors and actresses continue to strike.
New contract improves conditions
According to the WGA, improvements in working conditions for authors were achieved in negotiations with major studios and streaming providers – and this primarily in three areas: wage increases, higher subsidies for retirement and health care and clearer regulations for dealing with artificial intelligence (KI) in connection with the texts of the WGA members. The new conditions apply retroactively from September 25th up to and including May 1st, 2026. They include, among other things, wage increases of between three and five percent. In addition, the employer’s share of health insurance should increase from 11.5 to 12 percent. An increased contribution also applies to retirement provision.
In addition to wage demands, the previously unclear handling of the new possibilities of AI was also a reason for the strike. The new contract clarifies that author-generated text has clear priority over AI-generated text and, in contrast to AI text, constitutes so-called “source material.” Authors’ texts should not be “undermined” by AI texts. In addition, no one should be forced to create texts using AI.
Actresses and actors continue to strike
As positive as the agreement on a new contract may be for the authors, the 160,000 actors who are also on strike remain on strike. Members of the SAG-AFTRA union joined the writers’ strike in July of this year. Negotiations with representatives of the studio and streaming giants have only been ongoing here since last week. Performers have also called for wage increases and legally binding regulations on how their original artistic performance can be protected from misuse by AI applications in the future. An agreement is not yet in sight here. In this respect, the US entertainment industry is facing further standstill. Fans will probably have to put up with postponements of new seasons and formats for a while.