Hollywood Studios and the Writers Guild of America have agreed to meet on Friday to start talks. This will be the first meeting since the writers began their historical Writers Guild strike. The strike is affecting productions across the board and has been halting the entertainment sector for more than 100 days. The harsh strike that shut down most of Hollywood in 2007–2008 has already been overshadowed by the present conflict. In 1988, records show that a writers’ strike lasted 154 days. The two sides are still very far apart on critical issues like compensation, residuals, mandated staffing, and other employment-related worries.
The Writers Guild of America and Hollywood’s biggest studios and streamers are scheduled to meet again on Friday, the eleventh of August following a 101-day break. This was announced on the 10th of August in response to the proposal given and outlined by the guild on the 4th of August. Yes, this response was nearly a week after. The WGA notified members on Thursday about their request for a meeting with the AMPTP.
This represents the beginning of what may be an extended process leading to a compromise between the parties and the conclusion of the Writers’ Strike.
The AMPTP was hoping to use the agreement that the Directors Guild of America came to earlier this summer as a basis for similar issues. The AMPTP additionally expressed an intention to increase its offer on a few writer-specific TV minimums, but not on such fundamental writer issues such as the bare minimum number of writers’ rooms or success-based residuals.
An Anniversary of Shame for the AMPTP
There initially was strong hope for the conference on August 4. The lack of results served as yet another motivating factor for writers to continue striking. The WGA’s strike entered its hundredth day on Wednesday, August 9th. In an interview with THR this week, Chris Keyser, co-chair of the WGA negotiating committee, described the 100-day mark as “an anniversary of shame for the AMPTP.”
The writers’ strike, which is currently on its 101st day, has resulted in what is basically a closure of unionized, written production in the United States and, in certain cases, abroad. Projects affected by this shutdown include Gladiator 2 and Deadpool 3. On July 14, the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA joined the picket lines. Since then, big motion pictures and television shows, like Marvel’s Blade and Netflix’s Stranger Things, have had their production dates pushed back.
Interference of the 2023 committee of WGA
The writers challenged the studios, and the AMPTP, to provide a fresh strategy to the meeting on Friday: They also told them to prepare themselves to reach a reasonable bargain and start repairing the harm their strikes and their corporate practices have done to the employees in this sector.
