There won’t be a strike at PBS after all. WGA-represented writers for the public network reached an agreement ahead of their cutoff time midnight on Thursday, TheWrap has learned.
“THIRTEEN, GBH and PBS SoCal are pleased to have reached an agreement with WGA East,” the stations said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing our work to deliver trusted public media to our audiences.”
The specifics of this agreement were not released.
There are currently 150 freelance writers who work at the three top PBS affiliates. WGA members were asking for fair compensation for writer-producers as well as for made-for-new-media programs be given WGA coverage and for there to be “reasonable residual payments for reuse on streaming services.” However, the biggest story in this particular standoff has to do with animation writers.
The guild asked for animation writers to have full union protections, which would be the first deal of its kind. Earlier this week, more than 200 animation writers signed a pledge to not cross a picket line should a strike be called at PBS. That pledge included writers from more than 20 animated series including “Alma’s Way,” “Carl the Collector,” “Cyberchase,” “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” “Molly of Denali,” “Pinkalicious & Peterrific” and “Work It Out Wombats!”
The WGA also submitted a petition that was signed by more than 1,250 members, including John Oliver and Seth Meyers, that called for PBS to engage with the union after months of stalling. This negotiation has been a notably long one. According to the petition that was delivered to PBS management, the WGA was supposed to meet with representative for WGBH, THIRTEEN and PBS SoCal in July. The PBS employers did not come to the table with their proposals or respond to the WGA until the end of September for a contract that was supposed to expire on Oct. 9.
Deadline was the first to report this story.
PBS Writers Authorize Strike