diff --git a/.changes/backported/.gitkeep b/.changes/backported/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e69de29bb2d1
diff --git a/.changes/experiments.md b/.changes/footer-with-experiments.md
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/experiments.md
rename to .changes/footer-with-experiments.md
diff --git a/.changes/footer.md b/.changes/footer.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..259cdc4e337c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/footer.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+## Previous Releases
+
+For information on prior major and minor releases, refer to their changelogs:
diff --git a/.changie.yaml b/.changie.yaml
index 098dc6fbae32..d121045a4c58 100644
--- a/.changie.yaml
+++ b/.changie.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 
 changesDir: .changes
-unreleasedDir: unreleased
+unreleasedDir: backported
 versionFooterPath: version_footer.tpl.md
 changelogPath: CHANGELOG.md
 versionExt: md
diff --git a/.copywrite.hcl b/.copywrite.hcl
index b369a36093d3..5b33c69c4c3e 100644
--- a/.copywrite.hcl
+++ b/.copywrite.hcl
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ project {
     "**/*_string.go",
     "**/mock*.go",
     ".changes/unreleased/**",
+    ".changes/backported/**",
     # these directories have their own copywrite config
     "docs/plugin-protocol/**",
     "internal/tfplugin*/**"
diff --git a/.github/pull_request_template.md b/.github/pull_request_template.md
index e0cb3127ed67..2b34c41e8f51 100644
--- a/.github/pull_request_template.md
+++ b/.github/pull_request_template.md
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ label to enable the backport bot.
 <!--
 
 If your change is user-facing, add a short description in a changelog entry.
-You can use `npx changie new` to create a new changelog entry or manually create a new file in the .changes/unreleasd directory.
+You can use `npx changie new` to create a new changelog entry or manually create a new file in the .changes/unreleasd directory (or .changes/backported if it's a bug fix that should be backported).
 
 -->
 
diff --git a/scripts/changelog.sh b/scripts/changelog.sh
index 72cdfd0beeaa..8eb9a0576e6f 100755
--- a/scripts/changelog.sh
+++ b/scripts/changelog.sh
@@ -21,12 +21,19 @@ Commands:
     type. The release type should be one of "dev", "alpha", "rc", "release", or "patch".
     `dev`: will update the changelog with the latest unreleased changes.
     `alpha`: will generate a new section with an alpha version for today.
+    `beta`: will generate a new beta release.
     `rc`: will generate a new rc release.
     `release`: will make the initial minor release for this branch.
     `patch`: will generate a new patch release
 
   nextminor
-    Run this to get a new release branch for the next minor version.
+    This function expects the current branch to be main. Run it if you want to set main to the next
+    minor version.
+    
+  firstbeta
+    This function is expected to be run on the branch of the last minor release. It will make sure
+    that backports work properly
+  
 EOF
 }
 
@@ -39,9 +46,12 @@ function generate {
         exit 1
     fi
     
+    FOOTER_FILE='footer.md'
+    
     case "$RELEASE_TYPE" in
   
         dev)
+        FOOTER_FILE='footer-with-experiments.md'
         LATEST_VERSION=$(npx -y changie@$CHANGIE_VERSION latest -r --skip-prereleases)
 
         # Check if we already released this version already
@@ -61,6 +71,7 @@ function generate {
         ;;
 
         alpha)
+        FOOTER_FILE='footer-with-experiments.md'
         PRERELEASE_VERSION=$(date +"alpha%Y%m%d")
         LATEST_VERSION=$(npx -y changie@$CHANGIE_VERSION latest -r --skip-prereleases)
         HUMAN_DATE=$(date +"%B %d, %Y") # Date in Janurary 1st, 2022 format
@@ -119,16 +130,18 @@ function generate {
     echo "$COMPLETE_VERSION" > version/VERSION
     
     # Add footer to the changelog
-    cat ./.changes/experiments.md >> CHANGELOG.md
+    cat ./.changes/$FOOTER_FILE >> CHANGELOG.md
     echo "" >> CHANGELOG.md
     cat ./.changes/previous-releases.md >> CHANGELOG.md
 }
 
+# This function expects the current branch to be main. Run it if you want to set main to the next
+# minor version.
 function nextminor {
+    # Prepend the latest version to the previous releases
     LATEST_VERSION=$(npx -y changie@$CHANGIE_VERSION latest -r --skip-prereleases)
     LATEST_VERSION=${LATEST_VERSION%.*} # Remove the patch version
     CURRENT_FILE_CONTENT=$(cat ./.changes/previous-releases.md)
-    # Prepend the latest version to the previous releases
     echo "- [v$LATEST_VERSION](https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform/blob/v$LATEST_VERSION/CHANGELOG.md)" > ./.changes/previous-releases.md
     echo "$CURRENT_FILE_CONTENT" >> ./.changes/previous-releases.md
 
@@ -137,22 +150,46 @@ function nextminor {
     rm ./.changes/*.*.*.md
     # Remove all unreleased changes
     rm ./.changes/unreleased/*.yaml
+    # Remove all backported changes
+    rm ./.changes/backported/*.yaml
     # Create a new empty version file for the next minor version
     touch ./.changes/$NEXT_VERSION.md
     
     generate "dev"
 }
 
+# This function is expected to be run on the branch of the last minor release. It will make sure
+# that backports work properly
+function firstbeta {
+    # For the maintenance branch we don't want to base our changelog on the unreleased but the backported folder instead
+    awk '{sub(/unreleasedDir: unreleased/, "unreleasedDir: backported")}1' ./.changie.yaml > temp && mv temp ./.changie.yaml
+    
+    # If we have backported changes, we need to remove them now since they were backported into the
+    # last version
+    rm -f ./.changes/backported/*.yaml
+    
+    # If we have unreleased changes, they will be released in the next patch, therefore they need
+    # to go into the backported folder
+    if [ "$(ls -A ./.changes/unreleased/)" ]; then
+        mv ./.changes/unreleased/* ./.changes/backported/
+    fi
+
+    generate "dev"
+}
+
 function main {
   case "$1" in
     generate)
     generate "${@:2}"
-
       ;;
+
     nextminor)
     nextminor "${@:2}"
-
       ;;
+      
+    firstbeta)
+    firstbeta "${@:2}"
+    ;;
     *)
       usage
       exit 1