More than 100 days after the writer’s strike began on May 2nd, representatives for the Writers Guild of America convened on Friday with major studios and streamers in the first formal return to negotiations.
AMTPTP president Carol Lombardini and WGA West assistant executive director and chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman led the talks, which are hoped to at least try and get the ball rolling on a way to get past the impasse.
In the wake of the meeting, the WGA negotiating committee says the union will now “evaluate their offer and, after deliberation, go back to them with the WGA’s response next week.”
The negotiating committee has also issued a statement saying they won’t be discussing details publicly in an effort to make faster progress on talks:
“Sometimes more progress can be made in negotiations when they are conducted without a blow-by-blow description of the moves on each side and a subsequent public dissection of the meaning of the moves.
That will be our approach, at least for the time being, until there is something of significance to report, or unless management uses the media or industry surrogates to try to influence the narrative.
The Guild always has the right to communicate with our members and will do so when we think there is news you need to know”
The meeting follows in the wake of an exploratory meeting last week with the AMPTP reportedly not wanting to depart too far from the terms of the agreement they signed with the Directors Guild of America earlier this year.
It’s all coming down to three issues – A.I., streaming residuals and mini-rooms. The WGA, in its briefing to members last Friday, said studios had a willingness to engage in discussion around artificial intelligence but not mini-rooms or streaming residuals.
Effectively all unionized, scripted production in the U.S. has been shut down. Combined with the actor’s strike, this has reportedly impacted the California economy to the tune of billions of dollars, as many industries beyond film and television have been impacted.
Source: THR
