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A source-backed orientation to the 2026 MBA, signatories, registration, paid writing steps, AI rules, and the records writers should keep.
It means knowing which questions belong to the current MBA and preserving the material and delivery history needed to discuss them clearly. It does not mean a screenplay, template, AI setting, or export carries Guild certification. Employer signatory status and the covered engagement—not page layout—determine whether MBA protections apply.
Start with the current Guild source, identify the exact contracting company, and separate creative-development habits from contractual steps. Product history can organize facts; it cannot interpret an agreement.
The four-year agreement took effect May 2, 2026. Among its changes are a higher guaranteed-second-step threshold, a new page-one rewrite minimum, limits on who may demand rewrites or accept delivery in qualifying deals, updated residuals and compensation, and additional writers-in-production provisions with specific effective dates.
The agreement also preserves the 2023 AI protections and adds notice and discussion provisions for certain commercial GAI training licenses involving writers' work. Read the official summary for exceptions and effective dates.
A WGA signatory is a company bound by the MBA for covered work. That relationship is what brings minimums, credits, residuals, pension and health contributions, and other protections into scope. A polished PDF or familiar producer cannot establish coverage, so verify the actual employing or purchasing entity and the contracted writing steps.
When notes expand into another rewrite, compare the request with the paid steps and the individual named in the writer's contract. Do not let a clean version history normalize free work.
GAI is not a writer, and GAI-produced written material is not literary material. Separate MBA conditions govern the assigned-material, source-material, and separated-rights treatment of qualifying company-furnished GAI material. A company cannot require a writer to use GAI; a writer may choose it only with company consent and under applicable policy, and companies have disclosure duties for generated material furnished to writers.
Reviewable suggestions and BYOK can make tool use more deliberate, but they do not decide whether a particular use is permitted. Confirm the engagement's policy before sending protected material to any provider.
Keep the executed agreement, dated and labeled literary material, written suggestions, notes tied to a step, delivery correspondence, registration receipts, and the exact exported files submitted. The WGA screen credits manual specifically emphasizes retaining literary material and written suggestions for potential credit proceedings.
A dated save-point history, collaboration activity, notes, and matching delivery exports can help substantiate who contributed what and when. Preserve those records alongside the actual literary material and correspondence; no single app record automatically decides Guild credit, copyright authorship, or contractual delivery.
Yes—for format. Software can produce pages that conform to WGA and industry screenplay-layout conventions. That format claim is different from MBA coverage or contract compliance, which depend on the employer, engagement, agreement, conduct, and current Guild rules.
They are different systems with different effects. Writers may use one or both; consult the official WGAW Registry and U.S. Copyright Office guidance for the choice.
A writer may choose to use GAI only with company consent and under applicable policy. A company cannot require its use under current WGA guidance.
A dated save-point history, collaboration activity, notes, and matching exports can help substantiate who contributed what and when. Keep them with the literary material and delivery correspondence; no single app record automatically decides Guild credit, copyright authorship, or contractual delivery.
2026 WGA MBA
The current Minimum Basic Agreement between the WGA and the Alliance of Motio...
WGA signatory
A company that has agreed to be bound by the WGA collective-bargaining agreem...
Literary material
A defined category of writer-created material under the WGA MBA that can incl...
Free work and producer passes
Requested writing performed without an agreed paid step. A producer pass comm...
Guaranteed second step
A second paid writing step guaranteed in qualifying WGA-covered theatrical de...
AI-generated material
Text or other material produced by a generative-AI system. Under current WGA ...
WGA registration
A paid WGAW Registry service that creates a dated record of submitted literar...
Screenplay copyright registration
Registration of a screenplay with the U.S. Copyright Office as a work of the ...
WGA-compliant screenplay formatting
Professional screenplay layout that conforms to WGA and industry submission c...
