Writers Rooms Reopening for ‘Grey’s,’ ‘9-1-1,’ ‘The Simpsons’ & More Shows: Report

Dan Clarendon September 30, 2023, 11:23 am

'Grey's Anatomy,' '9-1-1' — Liliane Lathan/ABC, Jack Zeman/Fox

After months of picketing for higher pay and better working conditions, WGA members are getting back to work — including writers on Grey’s Anatomy, 9-1-1, and other shows.

Deadline reports that writers for the two ABC series plus those for NBC’s Quantum Leap, Paramount+’s Criminal Minds: Evolution, and Fox’s Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers, and The Simpsons will resume work on Monday, October 2.

Writers for Showtime’s Yellowjackets will convene for more work on Wednesday, and writers for ABC’s Abbott Elementary, CBS’ Young Sheldon, Fox’s The Cleaning Lady and Alert: Missing Persons Unit, and Max’s The Sex Lives of College Girls will get back to work sometime next week as well, the site adds.

20th Television

The news comes a little less than a week after negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and those for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reached a tentative agreement on Sunday, September 24. Two days later, WGA leadership voted to end the strike, which had been ongoing since early May.

Assuming the tentative agreement is ratified, WGA members will get higher pay, viewership-based bonuses for streaming titles, guarantees for minimum staffing for TV writers’ rooms, and disclosures of AI-generated material from studios, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional — with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership,” the WGA Negotiating Committee told members in a memo on Sunday.

Writers Strike Is Finally Over, Actors Strike Continues

“We feel great,” WGA West President Meredith Stiehm told the Times. “We won.”

Even though writers are picking up their proverbial pencils again, Hollywood is still contending with the SAG-AFTRA strike, which started in mid-July. But the actors’ guild will restart negotiations with the AMPTP on Monday, Deadline reports.

If the SAG-AFTRA strike ends in the next month or so, broadcast TV dramas might be able to eke out 13-episode seasons that would start airing in the spring, the site speculates.