The contract also mandates that studios provide the WGA with actual streaming data, including the total number of hours streamed domestically and internationally of self-produced high-budget streaming programs. This will give a more transparent view of the streaming industry's performance and make it harder for streaming services to manipulate their success narratives. The data will be available to WGA members and can be released in aggregate.
Key takeaways:
- The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has negotiated a new contract with significant pay increases for writers, particularly for high budget subscription video on demand and streaming films.
- The contract also stipulates that AI cannot write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material cannot be used as source material.
- The WGA reserves the right to assert that using writers' material to train AI is exploitation, potentially in response to proposed laws in California regulating the use of materials for AI training.
- Studios will now have to provide the WGA with actual streaming data, including the total number of hours streamed domestically and internationally of self-produced high-budget streaming programs, providing a more transparent look at the business of streaming.