Guild Contracts

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What are Guild contracts?

One of the valuable services the Guild provides to members is contract negotiation. The Guild negotiates two-, three-, or four-year contracts with companies that employ WGAE members. Our aim is to negotiate the best terms possible for compensation, benefits, creative rights and job security.

There are, broadly, three types of Guild contracts: Film/TV/Streaming contracts, which tend to cover the work done by members in the film and network television industries as well as podcasts; Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News contracts, which tend to cover the work done by members in the radio and television news industries and public television; and Online Media contracts, which tend to cover the work done by members who work for online, digital-first media platforms.

The primary contract we negotiate for Film/TV/Streaming members is the Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA). In addition, we provide several other Film/TV/Streaming contracts and agreements.

Members who work under a given Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News or Online Media contract typically all work for the same company (or “shop”), so the Guild negotiates different Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News and Online Media contracts for each of those unionized shops.

The Guild negotiates contracts on behalf of its members with companies that employ writers. The union also offers legal and professional advice to members with private employment agreements. Once these contracts are negotiated and put in place, the Guild actively enforces them to insure that members receive everything to which they are entitled.

The WGA’s aim is to negotiate the best terms possible for compensation, benefits, creative rights, and job security.

What can a Guild contract provide?

• Fair compensation & minimum rates
• Job security & workplace protections
• Protected creative rights
• Health benefits & pension

The Process

Guild contracts mean something important for every member, regardless of the work they do or the employer they work for. A Guild contract protects workers through the collective power of their fellow members, past and present.

Film/TV/Streaming contracts – In order to ensure that the terms negotiated in the MBA truly reflect the needs of our members, we engage members in every step of the negotiation process: thousands of writers participate in surveys and attend pre-negotiation outreach meetings; a negotiating committee made up of Writers Guild members from the East and West partake in the contract negotiations themselves; and the contract is ratified only if a majority of Guild members vote in favor of doing so.

Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News and Online Media contracts (as well as nonfiction podcast studio contracts) – The process of negotiating a Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News or Online Media contract—otherwise known as a “collective bargaining agreement” (CBA)—begins when employees at a given company form a staff union with the WGAE and win recognition from their employer. After winning union recognition, employees nominate a committee that, alongside WGAE staff, will bargain a first contract with the company. A union contract only goes into effect after bargaining is complete and members vote to ratify the agreement.

Learn more about the Guild’s contracts

Read about the Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) and its benefits and protections—as well as the full text of the agreement.

Review all other Film/TV/Streaming contracts, including our current Podcast and Nonfiction agreements.

Learn about the latest Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News and Online Media contracts.

You can also find information about the status of the Guild’s union shops and ongoing campaigns in Online Media, and about the status of our nonfiction television industry campaigns.