Sesame Workshop Writers Ratify New 5-Year Contract

Katie Campione
·1 min read

It’s official: Writers Guild members at the Sesame Workshop have got a new contract.

The writers “overwhelmingly” approved the five-year collective bargaining agreement, the guild announced on Friday.

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Sesame Workshop writers reached a tentative deal in April, but not before unanimously voting to authorize a strike against the nonprofit organization. The deal was struck just in time to avoid a work stoppage.

The WGA says that members won “historic” jurisdiction and minimum rates for animation and new media programs produced by Sesame, protections against artificial intelligence, paid parental leave benefits and substantial improvements to new media residuals.

“Congratulations to our Sesame Workshop writers, who won groundbreaking protections that will allow them to continue creating children’s media,” WGAE President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen said in a statement. “Make no mistake — these historic gains mark an important step in organizing animation. Writing for children’s media and animation isn’t easier than other forms of screenwriting, and those workers deserve the same protections.”

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