WGA to meet with AMPTP again Friday as writers’ strike stretches on
After more than 100 days of striking, the Writers Guild of America said it has agreed to meet again with the negotiators representing the major Hollywood studios on Friday.
The guild said in a Thursday morning message to members that Carol Lombardini, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, asked to meet with the union’s negotiating committee.
This would be the second meeting after the start of the writers’ strike that began in May. Representatives of the WGA and the studio alliance met last week with the aim to resume talks, but people familiar with the matter indicated that the meeting did not go well.
As SAG-AFTRA members join writers on picket lines, the fallout will disrupt Hollywood film and TV productions worldwide. ‘There’s going to be blood in the water,’ said one analyst. ‘This will not end well.’
The AMPTP represents studio owners including Walt Disney Co. and Netflix.
“We expect the AMPTP to provide responses to WGA proposals,” the WGA negotiating committee said in its note to members.
AMPTP declined to comment.
It’s unclear what will come out of Friday’s meeting, but the move comes as studio executives face mounting pressure to find a way out of a labor standoff that has caused widespread turmoil for the industry.
Screenwriters have been walking picket lines since May 2, and there’s currently no end in sight. Actors also stopped work in mid-July, part of Los Angeles’ summer of labor strife.
The two sides remain far apart on issues including the WGA’s demands for minimum staffing requirements in TV writers rooms and protections against artificial intelligence. Pressure has been mounting on studios to resolve the work stoppages, as actors organized under SAG-AFTRA have also been on strike since mid-July.
“Our committee returns to the bargaining table ready to make a fair deal, knowing the unified WGA membership stands behind us and buoyed by the ongoing support of our union allies,” the WGA negotiating committee said.
Friday’s meeting is a positive sign that the two sides are willing to listen to each other’s perspectives and understand they will probably give concessions, said David Smith, a professor of economics at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School.
“Any time people are in the room talking to each other, it provides opportunity of resolution,” Smith said.
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