Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery stocks climbed on Monday on news of a deal to end the writers strike. A tentative agreement was reached between the Writer’s Guild of America and film studios to end the 146-day strike. The agreement still needs to be ratified by WGA members, which represents over 11,000 staffers. Loading Something is loading.
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The potential end of the Hollywood writers strike sparked a jump on Monday in movie and streaming industry stocks, led by Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount with shares of Disney, AMC Entertainment, and Netflix also rising.
Warner Bros and Paramount were the biggest gainers, up 1.44% and 1.5%, respectively. Disney rose 0.5%, while AMC was up 0.6%. Netflix edged higher by 0.5%.
The Writers Guild of America said Sunday they reached a tentative agreement with film studios to end the 146-day strike.
“This was made possible by the enduring solidarity of WGA members and extraordinary support of our union siblings who joined us on the picket lines for our 146 days,” WGA spokesperson Bob Hopkinson said in an email to Insider late Sunday evening.
The announcement followed after five consecutive days of meetings between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major players like Netflix, Warner Bros, and Disney.
Over 10,000 WGA members began striking on May 2, and another 160,000 union members of SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, joined on July 14. The joint walkout marked the first time in over six decades that both guilds organized a labor action against Hollywood giants, with the strike weighing on the industry through much of 2023.
The writers, for their part, won’t return to work immediately, as they will still await the go-ahead from the WGA. Picketing, however, has been suspended, but the guild encouraged its members to join the SAG-AFTRA picket lines.
The actors, meanwhile, remain on strike.