The union representing screenwriters reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios to end a historic strike after nearly five months, raising hopes that a crippling shutdown of movie and television filming could be near an end.

Actors remain on strike, but the deal with writers might help them find a resolution soon as well, AP reported from Los Angeles yesterday.

The Writers Guild of America announced the deal Sunday in a joint statement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group that represents studios, streaming services and production companies in negotiations.

The agreement must be approved by the guild’s board and members before the strike officially ends. That could happen this week.

The pact “was made possible by the enduring solidarity of WGA members and extraordinary support of our union siblings who joined us on the picket lines for over 146 days”, the guild said in an email to members.

In a longer message from the guild shared by members on social media, the writers were told the strike is not over and no one was to return to work until hearing otherwise, but picketing was to be suspended immediately.

The three-year contract agreement emerged after five marathon days of renewed talks by WGA and AMPTP negotiators, who were joined at times by studio executives. The terms were not immediately announced.

The deal to end the last writers’ strike, in 2008, was approved by more than 90 percent of union members, the AP report added.

Media and entertainment companies got a small boost from the news as entertainment companies’ share prices rose marginally on Monday.

The agreement came just five days before the strike would have become the longest in the guild’s history and the longest Hollywood strike in more than 70 years.

As a result of the deal, nightly network shows including NBC’s ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ and ABC’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ could return to the air within days.

But as writers prepare to potentially crack open their laptops again, it’s far from business as usual in Hollywood, as talks have not yet resumed between studios and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

(Photo courtesy WGA East Twitter handle)