The 2023 writers’ strike was long, expensive, and ended with a contract that contained real wins. A year and change later, it’s worth asking what practical things have actually changed about how television and film get made — and what hasn’t.

The clearest changes involve minimum staffing on writers’ rooms, residuals on streaming productions, and guardrails around the use of generative AI in the writing process. Rooms now have floors: a show above a certain budget can’t run with a writer or two doing the work that used to employ six. Streaming residuals, while still lower than their broadcast equivalents, finally tie payouts to viewership metrics rather than flat fees.

The AI language in the contract was narrower than the headlines suggested, but it established a precedent that will matter for the next negotiation. Studios can use AI as a tool, but they can’t credit it as a writer or use its output to undercut writer compensation. The enforcement mechanisms are still being tested.

What hasn’t changed is the fundamental volume pressure on writers’ rooms. Short seasons and short orders mean many writers still earn less in a year than they would have under the old broadcast system, even with higher per-episode minimums. The rooms are better staffed when they exist, but there are fewer of them.

The strike didn’t solve the underlying economics of the streaming era. It did force the industry to formalize the rules by which those economics operate. That’s a meaningful shift, and it’s likely to shape the next contract cycle more than most viewers realize.