Those hoping for a quick resolution to the writer’s strike sadly won’t be getting it as today’s meeting between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) had ‘mixed results’ according to sources for the trades.
106 days into the strike, the WGA responded to the AMPTP’s offer with sources for Variety indicating the WGA “did bend slightly on a few items,” but negotiators “did not offer the significant concessions that the studio side was looking for in response to its own offer.”
The WGA was reportedly unimpressed with the AMPTP’s offer to give showrunners the authority to hire up to a certain minimum number of writing staff, a number that would increase based on the show’s production budget. The Writer’s Guild still wants a minimum staff size for TV writers but offered to lower the minimum by one writer.
The pair are also still divided on streaming residuals and a higher minimum tier for TV writer-producers. Part of that is the WGA wants to tie streaming residuals to the popularity of a show, but streamers have been adamantly refusing to share that kind of viewership data.
Previously it was revealed the AMPTP’s offer included an agreement that only humans would be credited as writers on screenplays, not artificial intelligence bots so as not to undercut writer’s compensation or credit.
No word as yet as to whether further talks will be taking place or if more proposals will be offered, but certainly, it seems plenty more negotiations will be required to end the impasse.
Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland tells Deadline that the actor’s union remains “very eager to get back to the table with the AMPTP, as we’ve said every day… we’re happy that they are back to the table with the Writers Guild this week. Perhaps that is a sign for cautious optimism about the future of these agreements.”
Crabtree-Ireland also indicates that movie distributors headed to this year’s Fall film festivals hoping to buy star-studded indie films must be prepared to agree to new contract terms from SAG-AFTRA.
For those projects that received SAG-AFTRA interim agreements, any potential buyer must agree to the union’s proposed new deal – which will include streaming revenue for actors.
