The Writers Guild of America East is joining the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

The East Coast-based branch of the Hollywood writers union has won voluntary recognition for union coverage of public childrens animation programming from Fred Rogers Productions, the former home of the iconic PBS show Mister Rogers Neighborhood, and Spiffy Pictures. The union announced the deal on Friday.

Writers on future seasons of PBS Kids titles Daniel Tigers Neighborhood (which takes place in the Mister Rogers Neighborhood world), Almas Way and Carl the Collector will work under the terms of the unions existing contract with PBS. That contract, reached after the union leveraged a strike threat in 2024, included coverage of PBS Kids animation for the first time and triggered union representation for writers on shows like Molly of Denali and Work It Out Wombats. Shows produced by outside production companies were not included at the time. Fridays deal brings Fred Rogers Productions and Spiffy Pictures contributions to PBS Kids into the union fold.

Under the terms of the WGA Easts PBS contract, writers on these titles will receive pension and health contributions from their work and residuals for AVOD and SVOD reuse. The contract also enshrines protections that writers won around the use of AI during their 2023 film and television strike.

Every writer on all of our series over the years has played an integral role in each shows success, so this was a no-brainer for Spiffy, Spiffy Pictures co-founder and executive producer Adam Rudman said in a statement. We hope it paves the way for more companies to follow.

In a joint statement, the head writers for Daniel Tigers Neighborhood and Almas Way, Jill Cozza-Turner and Jorge Aguirre, respectively, said that Fred Rogers Productions is carry[ing] on the legacy of Fred by being true allies in supporting working writers.

The agreement comes at a tenuous time for PBS Kids, whose programming is not immune to recent government funding cuts to the public broadcaster. PBS Kids senior vice president and general manager Sara DeWitt told The Washington Post in August that the provider would continue providing its current library of shows but would need to downsize its development of new shows and seasons.

PBS Kids writers have been a bedrock in educating children around the world and we are glad they can work under a Writers Guild contract that provides them with fair pay, pension and health coverage and residuals, WGA East president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen said in a statement. Allanimation writers deserve union protections just like their colleagues inlive action television.