Negotiations between Hollywood writers and the studios are expected to continue this week.
In an email to members after Friday’s meeting with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Writers Guild of America wrote, “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.”
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The guild did not disclose what exactly the counterproposal was; however, Variety reported that the studios “delivered proposals that touched on all of the guild’s major issues.”
Those proposals, according to the outlet, included transparency on viewer data on streaming platforms and not crediting A.I. as writers.
Another proposal was giving showrunners the authority to set the size of the writers' room, something that Sal Calleleros, a WGA member, told KNX News’ Jon Baird that’s nothing new.
“That’s already been in place forever,” he said. “It's up to the showrunner to decide how many writers he or she needs for that particular show.”
Calleleros added that while it’s a good sign the two sides are talking, he thinks the studios leaked the proposals they made to the writers.
“They sort of put things out there to sort of take the temperature of what maybe the writers, how they're going to react, and then they'll use that probably behind closed doors,” he said.
David Slack, a former WGA board member, said closing a deal with the studios can be hard to clock.
“I think every writer in the WGA who's been doing it for a while has had the experience of a deal taking 3 to 6 months to close and they probably also had the experience of a deal taking hours or a day to close,” he said. “And so I don't know how this is gonna end. I don't know when it's gonna end, but the fact that they're engaging on the very real concerns that we've brought to them is a really, really good thing.”
SAG-AFTRA, on the other hand, marked their one-month picket line anniversary on Monday. While it’s unclear when that union will meet the studios, Miranda Banks, a film and TV, professor from Loyola Marymount University, spoke on timing for contract talks.
“Ultimately, it doesn't matter really who goes first,” she said. “Arguably some might say it would be nice to get their back to work first because they've got to get the scripts that then actors can start working on.”
On Monday, SAG-AFTRA announced it will only grant Interim Agreements for non-WGA-covered projects. This comes after the union gave permission to over 200 independent productions to continue filming.
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