By Griffin Brammer and Will Coffman, Arts & Entertainment Editor and Newswire Intern

The 148-day writers’ strike ended at 12:01 a.m. this morning.

Hollywood producers, studios and streaming platforms met with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) to create a contract that would end their 148-day strike. This Sunday, the negotiations took place privately between WGA’s negotiating committee and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), where they reached a tentative deal.

Since May 2, Hollywood has been on a temporary shutdown, an action initiated by WGA in an effort to obtain better benefits for its members. Writers were soon joined by Actors from the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) on July 14. Their inclusion was due to concerns regarding the use of artificial intelligence and low residual payments for their work on streaming services.

Members of WGA’s East and West board approved AMPTP’s contract and its three-year agreement. Details of the agreement included a viewership-based residual system for streaming services, better residuals and access to healthcare and a promise to refrain from recognizing artificial intelligence-generated content as source material. Officials from WGA are adamant that all union members will be happy with the results.

“We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional, with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership,” the negotiating committee for WGA wrote to its members in a union-wide email after the contract was announced.

As of yesterday, WGA must still hold a vote with all its members to determine whether the contract will be ratified. The vote will be held Oct. 2–9. If WGA’s members do not unanimously vote to ratify the contract, the strikes will resume. The guild has expressed that all members may return to work during the ratification process. Picketing was suspended last Sunday.

While the board for SAG-AFTRA has not reached a deal with AMPTP, they have expressed pride for their sister union’s success and assured that they will be involved in the finalization of AMPTP’s contract.

“We applaud (WGA’s) dedication, diligence and unwavering solidarity over the last five months and are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with you as creative partners in the entertainment industry,” SAG-AFTRA’s official account posted on X last Sunday. “We look forward to reviewing the terms of the WGA and AMPTP’s tentative agreement. And we remain ready to resume our own negotiations with the AMPTP as soon as they are prepared to engage on our proposals in a meaningful way.”

The deal comes at an opportune time as the strikes have caused the most disruption to the economy of the entertainment industry since the COVID-19 pandemic. New York has seen a loss of 17,000 jobs.

In an effort to fundraise for their cause, many actors who are members of SAG-AFTRA have begun holding online auctions offering various forms of activities or memorabilia for sale. The main goal of the auction is to raise money for crew members who have not been able to work due to the complete stoppage from the writers’ and actors’ strikes.

 For instance, Bob Odenkirk, known for his role as Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, is auctioning off a dinner with him and comedian David Cross. Fans can bid for Adam Scott of Parks and Recreation fame to walk their dog or solve the New York Times crossword with Orange is the New Black star Natasha Lyone.

Several auctions have bids ranging in the thousands of dollars. WGA and AMPTP’s tentative deal has caused no change to the auctions according to the Union Solidarity Coalition, the main group behind the fundraising effort. 

“We want to think big about how we can support each other in the face of a national labor crisis,” the group wrote on their website.