Hollywood studios and writers are close to an agreement to end the strike and hope to finalize the deal on Thursday, sources say

Writers and producers are close to reaching an agreement to end the Writers Guild of America strike after meeting face to face on Wednesday, people familiar with the negotiations told CNBC’s David Faber on Wednesday.

The two sides have met and hope to finalize a deal on Thursday, the sources said. Although optimistic, people told Faber that if an agreement was not reached, the strike could last until the end of the year.

On Wednesday evening, the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers released a joint statement saying the two groups had met to negotiate and would negotiate again on Thursday. Representatives did not respond to requests for additional comment.

WGA members have been on strike for more than 100 days – with actors joining the picket line in July – leaving Hollywood production of TV shows and movies at a standstill. Production has been halted on several high-profile shows and films, including those of Netflix “Stranger Things” Disney and Marvel’s “Blade” and Paramount’s “Evil.”

Earlier in the week, the writers union announced it would resume negotiations with the studios.

It appears to be the closest the two sides have come to a resolution since more than 11,000 film and television writers went on strike starting May 2. They argued that their compensation did not match the revenue generated in the streaming era.

Beyond higher pay, the WGA has pushed for new rules that would require studios to staff television shows with a certain number of writers for a certain period of time. Screenwriters also seek compensation throughout the pre-production, production and post-production process. Currently, authors are often expected to revise or submit new material without being paid.

In late August, AMPTP made public its latest proposal to the then-WGA and tensions between the two groups appeared to remain high.

Discussions between studios and writers have included conversations with senior media executives, including Discovery of Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav, Disney’s Bob Iger, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and NBCUniversal the film’s director, Donna Langley.

The strikes have taken a toll on these media companies as they work to make streaming profitable and get people back into theaters.

Warner Bros. Discovery – owner of a television and movie studio, as well as the largest portfolio of pay TV networks – warned investors of the effects of the strikes earlier this month by adjusting its profit forecast. The company said it now expects its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to decline by $300 million to $500 million, with a full-year range of $10.5 billion to $11 billion. ‘year.

At a conference earlier this month, Zaslav called for an end to writers’ and actors’ strikes.

“We need to do everything we can to get people back to work,” Zaslav said at the investor conference. “We really need to focus, as an industry, and we are, on trying to solve this problem in a really equitable way.”

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.