The Writers Guild of America and Hollywood's major studios reached a four-year tentative labor agreement on April 5, 2026, securing a new contract for the union's screenwriter members without a work stoppage. The deal comes as the industry continues to recover from the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023, which caused widespread production shutdowns.

Details of the tentative agreement were not immediately released in full, as is customary before membership ratification. The WGA is expected to present the contract terms to its members, who will then vote on whether to accept the deal. A prior tentative agreement in 2023 was ultimately ratified by an overwhelming majority of members.

The four-year term is notably longer than many previous WGA contracts, which have typically run for three years. A longer contract period provides greater stability for both studios and writers, locking in terms around wages, residuals, and the use of artificial intelligence — a central issue in recent labor negotiations across the entertainment industry.

The agreement was reached through negotiations between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the bargaining body representing major studios and streaming platforms including Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and others. The current contract was set to expire, making a new deal necessary to avoid another labor disruption.

The entertainment industry has faced significant financial pressures in recent years, including declining theatrical revenues, shifting streaming economics, and the rapid advancement of AI tools capable of generating written content. How the new contract addresses AI protections for writers is expected to be a key point of interest when full terms are disclosed.