WGA, AMPTP Reach Tentative Four-Year Deal
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- WGA Negotiating Committee unanimously approved a tentative four-year 2026 Minimum Basic Agreement with the AMPTP, fronted by chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman and AMPTP boss Greg Hessinger.
- The deal protects the writers' health plan on a 'sustainable path' with increased company contributions and higher health contribution caps, while also addressing free work challenges and building on 2023's strike gains.
- A major cash infusion — described as 'millions and millions' — will flow into the guild's long-troubled health and pension funds, though the WGA did not disclose the exact term length in its public messaging.
- The contract runs one year longer than usual, part of an AMPTP-wide push for extended terms across the Hollywood guilds that Deadline first reported in December.
- The tentative pact must still win approval from the WGA's rank-and-file membership, a ratification process the source says could take several weeks.
- The DGA, led by Christopher Nolan, congratulated the WGA, while SAG-AFTRA is expected to restart negotiations in June and the DGA bargains in May — both with current contracts expiring June 30.
- The bargaining mood was notably less contentious than 2023, which a labor source attributes to both sides wanting 'a reset in the relationship' and to new AMPTP leader Hessinger's softer approach.
Why it matters: Coming just a year after the WGA's historic 148-day strike, a four-year deal reached without a work stoppage suggests the post-2023 labor landscape has genuinely shifted — and the AMPTP is using this round to lock in stability across all Hollywood unions before SAG-AFTRA and the DGA's June 30 contract expirations hit.
