The WGA, or Writer’s Guild of America, has agreed to a deal that has been presented by the A.M.P.T.P, also known as the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. This comes after 148 days of the writers being officially on strike, and it finally, officially came to an end on September 23, 2023.
The writers were striking for many reasons. The main of them all was protection against being replaced with Artificial Intelligence, following the increased use and improved technology in the media space. They were also asking for improved wages from projects on streaming services, and minimum staffing for television shows, which are also both included with the proposed deal.
The writers for these Late Night shows are able to now resume their work and all your favorite late-night TV talk shows are returning to the air. Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Steven Colbert are all set to return to regular airing this week.
However, a vast majority of projects will still be left at a standstill, as the writers haven’t been the only group in Hollywood to be on strike. SAG-AFTRA, also known as the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, has also been striking for 73 days and has not yet reached a deal with the A.M.P.T.P. So while late-night talk shows with scripted material like Jimmy Fallon and Kimmel will return to normal air. Things like Saturday Night Live which still has actors employed will not be returning to air until the SAG-AFTRA strike is concluded.
Actors are the last actual block stopping the production of media from continuing as normal. So if the A.M.P.T.P. comes to an agreement with them, and it is accepted, production should continue, as there aren’t any other official strikes that would prevent production from beginning. However, there are hundreds of individual holdouts from individuals and groups of people from behind the screen that could halt some production on certain projects.
The agreement being agreed upon is not a case closer to the situation but should be viewed as a great first step to easing tensions between the workers and the studios that employ them. There is now an increased sense of hope that the Actor strike can end in a timely fashion, so all these people can begin to make money to feed their families again, and for production to begin again, so we can get all of our favorite TV shows and movies back.
