New PBS Contract Signals Progress

As they mobilized from locations as disparate as Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and even Alaska, WGAE and WGAW writers who work on PBS shows were unified in their resolve for a better situation.

It was this resolve, that helped the PBS writers win their new three-year collective bargaining agreement at the end of 2024 with member stations WGBH, THIRTEEN, and PBS SoCal.

Among the details of the new PBS agreement: minimum rates increasing at the same percentage as the 2023 WGA Minimum Basic Agreement; writing fees for writer-producers separate from their producing fees; the same terms and protections regarding Artificial Intelligence that are in the Guild’s 2023 MBA, and increased contributions to the PWGA Health Fund.

PBS writer Tim McKeon. Photo by Paul Bloomfield.

PBS writers were especially pleased at provisions that will see children’s animated programs made by these public television producers for TV and new media covered by the WGA. In addition to receiving Pension & Health contributions, writers on animated series will be eligible for script fees, weekly salaries for staff writers, head writers and story editors, and residuals for AVOD and SVOD reuse.

Tim McKeon, who has worked for both kids animated and live action series for PBS, was excited at the prospect of doors opening up for writers on series that had not previously been covered. His PBS series credits include co-creating The Odd Squad, Tiny Time Travel and writing for the animated series Molly of Denali, an animated series which—if it is renewed for a fifth season—will have WGA coverage. 

“You hear these stories, especially about younger writers who say, ‘I’m working and somehow I don’t have health insurance,’ and you’re like, ‘That shouldn’t be a thing,’” said McKeon. “There shouldn’t be two tiers of making it.”

Molly of Denali's Wáats’asdíyei Joe Yates (Haida), Vera Starbard (Tlingit/Dena’ina), Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Neets'aii Gwich'in), X’unei Lance Twitchell (Tlingit/Haida/Yup’ik/Sami), and Frank Kaash Katasse (Tlingit). Photo by Joe Bedard.

Vera Starbard, part of a contingent of Alaska-based writers on Molly of Denali who rallied to express their demands on the depictions of indigenous American voices as well as on issues related to fair pay. 

“I don’t think anyone hesitated to support the negotiations,” said Starbard. “We knew it was the right thing to do to be paid the same as everyone else who is doing this job. We’re committed to doing this because it’s fair for everyone.”

Several writers referenced the 2023 strike and the tone that that action and subsequent contract set for the PBS negotiations.

“Let’s say that the specter of the 2023 strike was ever-present,” said WGAW member Kirk Ellis, a captain in New Mexico during the strike, who served on the PBS negotiating committee. Ellis had written the National Memorial Day Concert for PBS for the last six years.

“My takeaways from these negotiations is very similar to what I felt as a member coming out of the 2023 strike,” Ellis added, “which is that it’s amazing how much we still have to fight for in every field. The battle never seems to be over. What I’m encouraged by is the sense of fire in the belly, the sense of this is wrong and we’re going to fight for what is owed to us.”