The program, however, has to have a budget of $30 million or more. In May, writers asked for better compensation and residual checks on shows with at least $12 million budgets.
Writers will also be given viewership bonuses for working on hit shows and movies released on streaming services. So, if a program is viewed by at least 20% of subscribers within its first 90 days of release , writers get a bonus “equal to 50% of the fixed domestic and foreign residual.” That could mean a $9,031 bump for a half-hour episode, $16,415 for a one-hour episode, or $40,500 for a streaming feature with at least a $30 million budget, according to the WGA.
Staff writers will receive a 5% weekly rate increase, whereas story editors and executive story editors will receive a 3.5 to 4% increase. The WGA had previously asked for a 6% increase for staff writers, and a 5% bump for story editors and executive story editors.Writers had expressed concerns with understaffed writers rooms that can lead to burnout during and after production.
When it comes to weeks on the payroll, both sides agreed that staffers will get at least 10 consecutive weeks of work while a show is in production. Post-production, writers are also guaranteed “at least 20 weeks or the duration of the post-greenlight room, whichever is shorter,” according to the summary agreement.