In 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike from May 2 to September 27 over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major Hollywood studios and production companies like Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount, Sony, Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and Disney. The strike affected about 160,000 people in the entertainment industry, including actors, recording artists, radio personalities, and other media professionals represented by SAG-AFTRA, who announced in July that they would also go on strike. The WGA demanded higher royalties, mandatory staffing of TV writing rooms, safeguards to their jobs from the use of artificial intelligence, and residual payments when a show becomes a hit. The WGAs proposals would cost studios $429 million per year, while studios counterproposals were $86 million. The strike ended after a preliminary agreement with studios and streaming companies on September 27, 2023, after five months of disruption. The unions membership began voting on the agreement, and the final contract language still needs to be worked out and approved by the WGAs leadership and its 11,500 members. The strike affected TV shows and movies, and if it had dragged on, viewers would have noticed a dip in new TV series, with reality series and international shows playing in heavy rotation, and soap operas running out of new episodes after a month. Late-night talk shows such as "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" could be among the first to be back, but for everything else, it could take longer as the actors and performers union is still on strike.