The Writers Guild of America and the union representing the studios and streamers reached a tentative deal on Sunday.
The union called the deal “exceptional,” and added that it had “meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership.
Sal Calleros, writer and WGA member, told KNX News’ Jon Baird he’s glad a tentative deal was reached.
“It looks like beginning past Wednesday, negotiations were in earnest,” he said. “Once you saw it going into Saturday, I think everybody was sort of reading the tea leaves that this was probably a real negotiation. And once it went into Sunday, I think people got a little more hopeful. “
He added that he’s optimistic about what the deal included.
“They would not have announced this tentative agreement if we didn't have a deal that accomplishes what we need to accomplish, which is saving our middle class and protecting writing for TV, and movies as a viable way to make a living,” he said.
So what’s next for the writers? Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel told KNX News said the WGA board has to approve the deal.
“It’ll take a few days to prepare materials to send to the members,” he said. “The members will vote on whether to approve the deal. They, again, will almost certainly approve the deal.”
As for when SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will meet, Handel said it’s possible those could begin as soon as next week.
“The actors’ union has said that they're ready, willing, and able to start talks at any time, and so I would imagine that we would see talks with the actors beginning next week,” he said. “This is a short week, this week… and people would want a little bit of time to prep. But I would imagine Monday, October 2nd might be the day that we would see the beginning of actors talk,”
The Writers’ Guild told members that no one was allowed to go back to work “until specifically authorized to by the Guild. They have, however, suspended WGA picketing.
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