WGA deal includes $320 million to shore up health plan

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Hollywood’s biggest studios have agreed to contribute $320 million to help maintain the Writers Guild of America’s health fund, the union announced to its members on Wednesday.

A newly negotiated agreement between the writers’ union and studios would require writers to contribute more to their healthcare costs. However, studios would also contribute a record $321 million to the health plan, which is the largest amount ever provided, according to the WGA.

Union leaders announced Wednesday that the deal includes increased payments for reruns—with a new bonus for highly successful streaming shows, increasing the share of rerun payments from 50% to 75%. The agreement also addresses how work can be used to train artificial intelligence.

The new contract will last for four years, which is longer than the Writers Guild of America’s typical three-year agreements. The current agreement ends on May 1st.

In a message to its members, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) negotiating committee expressed pride in the outcome of recent negotiations, thanking members for their support. They highlighted a key achievement: getting the health plan back on solid financial footing after facing challenges from a shrinking industry and rapidly increasing healthcare costs.

Talks between the writers’ union and the movie and TV producers started in March. A tentative agreement was reached last weekend, and the union’s East and West branches officially approved it on Tuesday. Union members will vote on whether to finalize the deal next week.

Hollywood Inc.

Talks started in March between the union representing film and TV workers and the studios. The union is focused on getting better health insurance, fair payments for shows streamed online, and safeguards to prevent the harmful use of artificial intelligence.

I’m really proud that we were able to negotiate significant improvements to our healthcare plan! As part of the recent funding increase, we successfully raised the contribution caps from companies to as much as $400,000 by 2028. This means stronger healthcare coverage for all of us.

Union leaders explain that the current limit hasn’t been updated in twenty years, and contributions to healthcare have been decreasing because there are fewer writers with active employment.

The new contract requires union members to contribute $75 per month towards their healthcare for the first time. To be eligible for coverage, the minimum earnings requirement will also increase by around $7,000, rising to $53,773.

Starting in May 2027, members will receive a 2.5% increase in residuals from both foreign and domestic streaming projects with high budgets. Another 2.5% increase will be applied to these residuals in May 2029.

For international streaming projects with over 75 million subscribers – like those on Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+ – actors will see a 6% increase in their residual payments starting in the first year of the contract.

Writers will see a 1.5% increase in their minimum payments during the first year of the new contract, followed by a 3% increase in subsequent years.

Union leaders began talks aiming to get payment for the use of copyrighted works when training artificial intelligence systems.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) successfully negotiated broader access to information about AI and secured requirements for companies developing AI to meet with writers before they can use their work to train AI systems.

Hollywood Inc.

After striking for over seven weeks, Writers Guild staff union members are now facing the loss of their health insurance. Union officials say they weren’t informed about the requirements to maintain coverage.

The Writers Guild of America is the first Hollywood union to come to a preliminary agreement. Negotiations are still ongoing with SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild of America to reach new contracts.

As a film buff, I’ve been following the union talks closely. The actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, started negotiating with the studios way back in February and even continued those discussions in March. They actually took a break, though, to let the studios finish up their deal with the writers’ union first. It’s a bit nerve-wracking because both the actors’ and directors’ contracts are set to expire on June 30th, and a lot is riding on these negotiations!

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2026-04-12 21:22