Also known as 2026 MBA · Minimum Basic Agreement · WGA basic agreement
The current Minimum Basic Agreement between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, effective May 2, 2026, with minimums and working protections for covered writing.
The MBA is the collective-bargaining floor for covered employment by signatory companies, not a formatting badge for a screenplay. The 2026 agreement has a four-year term beginning May 2, 2026. It addresses compensation, pension and health contributions, credits, residuals, writing steps, television room practices, artificial intelligence, and other conditions that vary by kind of project and deal.
The 2026 changes preserve the 2023 AI protections and require companies to notify the Guild when licensing writers' work to train a commercial generative-AI system, with an opportunity for discussion that can include remuneration. Other changes include a higher threshold for guaranteed second steps, a new page-one rewrite minimum, and limits on who may demand rewrites or accept delivery.
A product can support careful drafting, delivery records, and readable version history; it cannot make a project or writer MBA-covered. Coverage depends on the employer, signatory status, work, and deal. Check the current agreement and Guild guidance when a question affects compensation, credit, delivery, AI use, or rights rather than relying on a software glossary alone.
The agreement took effect May 2, 2026, and runs for four years. Individual provisions can have their own effective dates, so consult the current summary and contract.
No. The MBA governs covered work for signatory employers. A privately written spec or a deal with a non-signatory is not made covered merely by using industry formatting.
No. The 2026 agreement preserves those protections and adds a notice-and-discussion process for certain commercial GAI training licenses involving writers' work.
