Writers Guild Keeps Mum As Studio Negotiations Resume

Hollywood hopes are on the rise this weekend after the Writers Guild of America received a new package of proposals from the studio side on Friday, an offer apparently promising enough that the writers did not reject it out of hand.

The glimmer of hope follows last week’s dispiriting meeting between the WGA and negotiators for Hollywood’s biggest studios. That confab, held a little more than a week ago, had left many insiders worried that the historic double strike being held by actors and writers against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) might not end until next year.

Since May 1, the WGA has been on strike, after six weeks of negotiations with the AMPTP broke down. At stake for the writers are a multitude of concerns, including viewership-based streaming residual payments, the minimum size of writers’ rooms, and when artificial intelligence can be used as a writing tool. 

Since then, the two sides have officially met only twice. First, there was a conversation on August 4 that was widely seen as a sign the contentious relationship between the WGA and AMPTP was easing. But following the confab, which was at the request of AMPTP president Carol Lombardini, the WGA told members that “the AMPTP playbook continues” and that discussion of “fundamental issues” was rejected at that meeting. “Rest assured,” the WGA said last week, “this committee does not intend to leave anyone behind, or make merely an incremental deal to conclude this strike.” 

Just a few days later, Lombardini reached out to WGA negotiators again, this time to hold the first official negotiation session since the strike began. This time, the WGA said in a statement sent to members, the AMPTP offered up “a counterproposal.” The WGA “will evaluate their offer,” the writers union said, “and, after deliberation, [will] go back to them with the WGA’s response next week.”

According to a statement from the WGA issued on August 4, one of the topics the AMPTP insisted on discussing was “press blackouts,” and though that didn’t happen after that meeting, it looks like the AMPTP got their wish for the latest summit.  Instead, members were told that “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,” the WGA said in the statement, “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.” (A spokesperson for the WGA told Vanity Fair that the guild has “no further comment at this time,” while the AMPTP has not responded to requests for comment.)

But while talks have resumed between the WGA and the AMPTP, there’s still the actors’ strike to contend with. SAG-AFTRA announced its walk-off on July 13, shutting down an industry that was already running on fumes since the writers stopped work two months before. But unlike the writers guild, the actors haven’t heard a peep from Lombardini, SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland tells Deadline. “We have heard that they have a second meeting with the Writers Guild, which is very encouraging,” he said. “I hope that means that there will be some progress and maybe some momentum that will get started.” 

Until both sides have a deal, Crabtree-Ireland says that picketing will continue at studios and streaming companies. “It’s something that strengthens both unions’ efforts,” he said. “We’ve been out here since day one of the writers’ strike, and we’re all in this together to ultimately win a fair deal.”

Full text of the WGA’s August 11 negotiations update to members:

Your Negotiating Committee received a counterproposal from the AMPTP today. We will evaluate their offer and, after deliberation, go back to them with the WGA’s response next week.  

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. 

In the meantime, please continue to demonstrate your commitment by showing up to the picket lines: for yourselves, your fellow writers, SAG-AFTRA, fellow union members, and all those in our community who are impacted by the strikes.