AMPTP

Writers Guild Reaches Tentative Agreement With Studios and Streamers, Union Tells Strike Captains

In a significant development that could bring an end to a historic writers' strike, the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced a provisional deal on Sunday.

After several long consecutive days of negotiations, the and the group representing studios and streamers have reached a tentative deal on a new contract in a major development that could precipitate the end of a historic, 146-day writers’ strike. The Writers Guild of America emailed strike captains the news on Sunday night.

The parties came to terms on a provisional three-year agreement, which will need to be ratified by members to take effect, on Sunday after studios responded to last-minute union asks that day. Specifics of the deal affecting around 11,500 WGA members weren’t available as of press time, though they will undoubtedly emerge in the next few days as the union seeks to sell its members on the pact.

During the final weekend of negotiations, lawyers huddled before the studios presented their alleged on Saturday night. Later that same night, the and the WGA issued a joint statement that they would be meeting again on Sunday. And indeed, despite the supposed finality of the studios’ previous proposal, the union returned to their bargaining counterparts on Sunday afternoon with some additional asks before the sides ultimately wrapped up the negotiations.

The on Friday’s packed picket lines was one of cautious optimism, as union members anticipated that the end of the historic work stoppage might be soon. “The fact that they’ve been talking for three days straight is terrific,” showrunner Marc Guggenheim (Legends of Tomorrow) told The Hollywood Reporter at Disney. Studio-side sources familiar with the progress in the room also projected positivity over the past several days as management made moves on issues including A.I., TV staffing and residual compensation tied to streaming show performance. That buoyant mood dipped on Thursday night, when studio sources claimed the WGA came back late in the night with new asks on items that management believed to be already closed; but returned on Friday as the sides nailed down compromises.

The momentum in talks over the course of the past week was a welcome change in pace from the month-long standstill in negotiations that occurred after a meeting between WGA leaders and several CEOs plus AMPTP president Carol Lombardini in late August, which ended in mutual recrimination. The AMPTP released its Aug. 11 offer publicly, and the WGA , saying its leaders were met with a “lecture about how good their single and only counteroffer was.” The pause in talks was lifted , when the AMPTP announced that the WGA had reached out to resume negotiations and both sides were working on scheduling in the following week.

At day 146 of the ongoing WGA strike, the work stoppage was closing in on being the longest in the union’s history. The current record was set in 1988, when the WGA struck Hollywood companies for 154 days.

Though still tentative in nature, the agreement is a momentous development for an industry that has been hobbled by the double WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the first time both have occurred at once in over 60 years. The WGA strike had an immediate impact: Filming in Los Angeles between April and June 2023 compared with the same period last year as the writers’ work stoppage began May 2, local office FilmLA . A wide array of major projects were halted in their tracks and/or , including Netflix’s Stranger Things, Apple TV+’s Loot, Marvel’s Blade 2 and Thunderbolts and others. When SAG-AFTRA joined the stoppage, a number of including Venom 3, Gladiator 2 and Deadpool 3 followed.

A tentative agreement does not eradicate the potential for the strike to continue, as WGA members could still reject the deal in an upcoming ratification vote. The stakes and expectations are high, given how long the work stoppage has gone on so far. However, in the coming days the WGA leadership will undoubtedly work hard to persuade their members of the deal’s merits.

Negotiations for the agreement and broke off the night of May 1, resulting in a strike the next day. The two parties reunited again on August 11, reached a standstill in late August but resumed on Sept. 20, and concluded their negotiations on Sept. 23. The writers had been advocating for great compensation in the streaming era, through higher wage floors, regulation of mini-rooms and residuals tied to the performance of their shows. Meanwhile, studios and streamers — who have been after Wall Street turned on unprofitable streaming operations in 2022 and amid an uncertain economic climate — were seeking to rein in their spending on labor. It remains to be seen how both sides managed to reach a compromise that could satisfy their constituents.

The writers were led in their negotiations by WGA West assistant executive director Ellen Stutzman, after the western branch of the union’s executive director David Young went on medical leave prior to the start of talks. Carol Lombardini, the AMPTP’s chief negotiator since 2009, led the talks for producers.

Now, it’s up to the WGA’s members to determine whether the deal satisfies the workplace issues that their peers have been raising for months. All eyes are on the union’s ratification vote for the deal, whose date has not yet been announced.

The Hollywood crew unions hosted a pre-negotiations kick-off rally on Sunday, March 3rd at Woodley Park in Encino. Bargaining with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin the following day on Monday, March 4th.

This year’s bargaining cycle marks the first time since 1988 that IATSE, Teamsters and the Hollywood Basic Crafts will jointly bargain health and pension benefits for their members under the shared Motion Picture Pension and Health Plan. From there, IATSE will continue negotiations of their IATSE Hollywood Basic Agreement and the IATSE Area Standard Agreement contracts and local union specific issues. Teamsters and Hollywood Basic Crafts are expected to bargain with the AMPTP in early June for their Local classification specific issues.

Quote:

... we stand in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America union members who voted to go on strike after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to provide viable and fair contact terms during negotiations. We will not strikebreak, which means that we will not be writing new content until a new contract is presented that WGA members decide adequately meets their needs and conclusively vote in favor of.

We do this in principle as a team that includes both veterans and newcomers in every position of the film industry fighting for a fair future and also in lockstep with the WGA members writing for us and making every bit of On Cinema possible.

I just saw a report on the NY Times that SAG-AFTRA had reached a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, effectively ending the strike. The deal still needs to be voted on by Union Members.

Hopefully that means there won't be too much of a gap between episodes, and the winter season can start close to on time.

Please help me understand. I'm not aware of the details of each side's proposal, but here it looks like there's a big difference that needs to be bridged. As per article:

Talks broke down last week between the major studios and SAG-AFTRA*, with the studios saying that the gap between the two sides is “too great” to continue productive negotiations.*

So how big is that gap?

About $480 million a year.

That’s the difference between what SAG-AFTRA wants in a new streaming residual formula — $500 million — and what the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is currently willing to pay — $20 million.

So, is SAG-AFTRA's proposal completely unreasonable, or have the studios been paying peanuts until now and they'd like to continue to do so?

WGA has settled for a lot less as it seems, for a relatively small amount of money — around $5 million a year at the outset, according to sources.

News just broke that SAG-AFTRA negotiations with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, with the negotiating board voting for a strike. Today the board plans to meet and vote on an official strike. If SAG-AFTRA goes on strike, how could that affect not only the pretty big slate of movies planned for the rest of the year but the Oscar’s too? Any chance this can ruin any films box office wise or even award wise?

Edit: The strike is official, Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt just left the London Oppenheimer Premier (BBC). I’d imagine the Barbie movie tour is also cancelled, although not officially confirmed as of now.

I noticed a few common questions about the strikes on here, so I thought I'd try and make a quick FAQ to address some of the confusion.

I keep seeing SAG-AFTRA and WGA and AMPTP, but I don’t quite understand what they are. Could you explain?

SAG-AFTRA, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and and Radio Artists, is a labor union that represents around 160,000 actors, journalists, radio personalities, recording artists, hosts, announcers, and other media professionals working in the US. Any on-screen talent filming in the US is going to be a part of this union, except for reality stars–while some are in the union, they are under different contracts that won’t be expiring until next year. For the rest of this post, I will be referring to them solely as SAG.

WGA, the Writers Guild of America, is a union representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media. The WGA is actually two guilds that work together–Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West. If it’s an American production, the writer is in this guild.

AMPTP, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, is the organization that represents the US television and film companies when taking part in collective bargaining. This includes Warner Bros, Disney, Netflix, Amazon–any film company, really.

Okay, got it. So what exactly is happening right now?

Basically, WGA, and now SAG, are striking over the following concerns:

• Residuals in streaming based on viewership.

• AI regulations. On the writers’ part, they want to guarantee that AI will not take part in the script-writing process. For the actors, they want to make sure that AI will not be used to recreate their likenesses after the fact, or modify their performances in any way.

• Higher pay and stable pay structure, as well as better working conditions.

• Actors want to have regulations against self-tape auditions, moving auditions back to being primarily in person once again.

• Writers want to preserve the writers room, allowing for new writers to break into the field and allowing seasoned writers to get bigger writing credits. This also includes preventing screenwriting from devolving into a gig economy job.

Why doesn’t AMPTP want to agree to these demands?

There’s two major reasons why AMPTP doesn’t want to agree to SAG and WGA demands.

Besides not wanting to spend any more money than they already spend, AMPTP doesn’t want to provide residuals because not only does it mean spending more money on their talent, it also means that they would have to provide viewership numbers on streaming shows to the public–this would end up possibly revealing that their business models are not as successful as they want the public to believe.

They also don’t want to lose the possibility of using AI in perpetuity–this is an opportunity for AMPTP to cut labor, which means spending less money at the cost of the livelihoods for actors and writers.

Wait, so this is all because AMPTP wants to pay people less money?

Yep.

Wow, fuck them.

Right?

Anyway, what does that mean for movie and television production?

Effectively, any and all production in the US is shut down. No actor can film, no writer can write, or else they’re crossing the picket line.

For the actors, this also means any film promotion ceases.

No more Barbie promo?

No more Barbie promo.

Also, no more con appearances (when part of promoting a film, at least), no more promo interviews, no more premiere attending, nothing.

What does crossing the picket line mean?

To put it simply, crossing the picket line is when you attend work while others in your field are striking. If an actor films an AMPTP role or a writer modifies a script in any way, they are crossing the line.

What about international productions? Like, if Keira Knightley is filming something in the UK? Or any of my Korean dramas?

International productions, whether they be in the UK or Australia or Korea, fall under their own union policies, and are therefore not involved in the strike–though some will likely express solidarity in one form or another. This means that if Keira Knightley wanted to film a beautiful and emotional English drama, she’s going to be allowed to do so without crossing the picket line.

However, if Keira Knightley wants to film something here in the US, she can’t do so. On the flip side, Keke Palmer cannot film anything here in the US, but if she gets a membership in the UK acting guild, Equity, she’ll be able to go to the UK and film there.

What about voice actors? In anime or cartoons and video games?

Usually, anime dubbing is not part of SAG, but that's a whole different story.

For cartoons, it varies. Some productions are part of SAG, meaning that they have to strike, while some are not, meaning that they can continue production.

This is the same for video games. Video game voice actors actually striked a few years ago, as part of SAG negotiations. But again, different story.

How long will this go on?

The strike will continue until AMPTP agrees to return to the table and negotiate–and sign–a deal. It’s possible that a deal may be signed for one guild and not the other.

What will happen to television and films that are currently in production?

It’s a bit of a case by case basis.

Some television shows will likely end up being canceled, while others may be able to survive the strikes. Some films will also end up being canceled, while others may re-enter production at the end of the strikes. In the case of film, actors may leave projects due to other contractual obligations and similar circumstances.

Can the production studios make their own deals with the guilds?

Yes, and that’s actually how the strike will likely end.

When a studio breaks off from AMPTP’s collective bargaining, it can sign a temporary deal with the unions in order to return to work. These are known as interim deals. Typically, these deals are only studio by studio, and involve an agreement that the studio will agree to whatever the unions want when they return to negotiations with AMPTP.

As each studio signs an interim deal, AMPTP’s collective bargaining loses more and more advantage in any negotiations, and eventually AMPTP is forced to acquiesce to union demands.

When was the last time something like this happened?

The last Writers’ Strike occurred between 2007 and 2008, and lasted three months.

The last Actors’ Strike lasted about the same amount of time, and happened in 1980.

The last time actors and writers struck together was in 1960, back when Ronald Reagan was president of SAG. Writers at the time began their strike in January of that year, and actors joined in March–however the actors signed a deal six weeks into their strike. Writers continued striking until June of that year.

Wait a second, what about the directors?

DGA, the Directors Guild of America, is known for its hesitance to strike, in comparison to WGA. The last time they striked was in 1987, for about 3 hours.

They signed a deal with AMPTP back in June.

Edit 1: has pointed out that independent productions have their own rules for the strike:

Exceptions may be given to independent productions that agree to terms with SAG-AFTRA on an interim basis, but these productions must be truly independent, meaning that they do not have a studio or streamer that is a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) attached as producers or distributors.

Edit 2: has pointed out that soap opera actors, news anchors, and reality show stars are on a different contract--

: "Amid a production halt during a double strike, major talent agency is undergoing a round of layoffs. About sixty employees are set to be impacted — including agents, executives and support staff — within the next week, a source tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Multiple departments had been evaluating staffing levels even prior to when the Writers Guild of America strike began on May 2. When performer’s union SAG-AFTRA joined the strike on July 13, Hollywood settled in to a long summer as the dealmaking ecosystem ground to a halt.

Several talent agencies have cut staff in the ensuing months as the guilds faced off with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains on behalf of studios. For instance, Endeavor, the owner of fellow “Big 3” agency WME and fashion-focused IMG, estimated on August 8 that the impact of the actors’ and writers’ strikes would be about $25 million per month in revenue. Talent and literary agency Verve, which reps many scribes, cut about 60 percent of its assistants and 3 agents in late May."