With the advent of “Writers Rooms”, more and more WGA members have found themselves working for a weekly salary, often in teams. Under the previous 2020 MBA, each member of a writing team would split the weekly compensation as well as the WGA Minimum. A team receiving $5,000 per week would be paid $2,500 each in compensation and they would receive 50% each of the reportable WGA Minimum or $2,500 in reportable earnings subject to pension and health contributions.
Under the new 2023 MBA, writing teams on a weekly salary still split the compensation 50/50 but they each get a contribution based on the full salary which is the WGA Minimum, not just their share. A team making $5,000 per week would each get $2,500 in compensation, but their earnings are reported at WGA reportable minimum of $5,000. Thus each would get pension and health contributions based on the total of $5,000 rather than their individual share.
This is true for writing teams of greater than two people as well. Whether there are two writers, or three, or more, working as a writing team, each member of that team will receive pension and health contributions based on the WGA Minimum, not just based on their share of compensation.
Final Thoughts
For Staff writers, 14.K, etc., the WGA Minimum is the required reportable amount for each person in a team, regardless of the individual writer’s compensation. Teams split their compensation, but their reportable earnings are calculated as if each team member were a single writer working at WGA Minimum.