LOS ANGELES (KNX) – Television and movie writers in Hollywood took to the picket lines as the Writers Guild of America entered its third day of striking.
The picketing outside Amazon, Netflix, Disney, and other major studios on Thursday comes after the WGA held a meeting Wednesday night at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, which drew more than 1,800 guild members.
In the meeting, WGA negotiating committee co-chair Chris Keyser revealed the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers did not want to compromise when it came to the use of artificial intelligence, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In its proposal, the WGA asked that AI “can’t write or rewrite material” or be used as source material. The studio not only rejected the proposal but countered by “offering annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology.”
Also in attendance were representatives from Screen Actors Guild, the Directors Guild of America, Teamsters, and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts. Those unions have expressed solidarity in published statements and on the picket line.
“Kind of just we really got a sense of like, you know how much solidarity there is, how much I think we're willing to do this for a long time,” a WGA member told KNX News.
In a conference call Thursday, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish said while writers are “essential”, Paramount has been prepared for the strike and that they’ll manage through it.
“We do have many levers to pull and that’ll allow us to manage through this strike, even if it’s for an extended duration,” he said. “In terms of those levers, we have a lot of so to speak content in the can. So, with the exception of things like late night, consumers really won’t notice anything for a while.”
Leila Cohan, a writer and producer who worked on “Bridgerton” and “Santa Clarita Diet”, responded to Bakish’s statements on LA Morning News, saying, “I think the very fact that he’s bragging about how much content shows the need for writers. We are the ones who created that content and I do believe that they’re probably ok for the next little while, given how streaming production cycles work, but that’s not going to last forever.”
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