The guild’s members ratified the 2026 MBA with 90.38% (4,282) voting in favor, and 9.62% (456) voting no. The term of the MBA is from May 2 through May 1, 2030.
Under the deal reached on April 4, writers will see individual premiums for the first time. The deal also includes higher deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums, as well as a significant rollback of the “extended coverage points” system that allows writers to maintain health insurance when they are not working.
The WGA was forced to accept the changes after four years of deficits averaging $50 million per year, due to spiraling health inflation and the downturn in film and TV production. In return, the studios agreed to put in an estimated $321 million to stabilize the health fund over the next four years, including $280 million in new contributions.
The deal is the first to be reached this cycle. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers returns to the bargaining table next Monday with SAG-AFTRA, after more than a month of talks in late February and early March. Negotiators are optimistic that a deal can be wrapped up before the Directors Guild of America sits down with the studios on May 11.
The WGA contract largely preserves the status quo on the issues that led to the 148-day strike in 2023. On artificial intelligence, the studios agreed to hold further meetings but did not commit to paying writers if their scripts are used to train AI models.
The AMPTP did agree to increase the 50% “success bonus” for popular streaming shows to 75% of a writer’s base residual. The deal does not alter the formula by which success is determined.
And the deal preserves the 2023 agreement on staffing in writers’ rooms, without increasing the mandatory minimum size of a writing staff. The AMPTP had sought to reinstitute pre-greenlight “mini rooms,” but the WGA held firm on that.