Disney, Warner, Netflix Brass Meet With WGA Reps To Resolve Strike — It Didn't Go Well

A coterie of studio executives and CEOs recently met with Writers Guild of America (WGA) leaders to go over a contract offer that they believe could end the ongoing strike in Hollywood.

According to multiple media reports, the meeting was a bust. 

What Happened: Per Variety, Walt Disney DIS chief Bob Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery WBD CEO David Zaslav, Netflix NFLX co-CEO Ted Sarandos and other entertainment brass met face-to-face with strikers on Tuesday, Aug. 22.

The discussion, which took place at a location outside of AMPTP headquarters in Los Angeles, largely centered around the latest offer from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) — a trade association representing major film studios and television production companies.

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The AMPTP presented the contract to the WGA on Aug. 11. But Tuesday's meeting was less a discussion and more of a "lecture," with studio bosses presenting the gist of their offers: 

• An increase in minimum gains
• A minimum of 10 weeks of employment for most TV series writers and writer-producers
• Allowing showrunners to hire at least two writers for at least 20 weeks.
• A minimum room size of at least five writers
• Greater foreign residual payments for streaming platforms.
• Transparency in viewership data (up to now, that data has largely been kept secret)
• A guarantee that written material generated by artificial intelligence will not be considered “literary material” or “source material." (Writers would not lose compensation or credit if generative AI is used for scripts.)

Why It Matters: The WGA clapped back. "This was a meeting to get us to cave," guild leaders said of the Tuesday evening gathering.

The strike, currently going on for about 114 days, underscores growing tension within the entertainment industry, including actors (SAG-AFTRA is also on strike).

WGA leaders said they "were met with a lecture about how good their single and only counteroffer was."

“We explained all the ways in which their counter’s limitations and loopholes and omissions failed to sufficiently protect writers from the existential threats that caused us to strike in the first place,” the negotiating committee stated. "We told them that a strike has a price, and that price is an answer to all — and not just some — of the problems they have created in the business. But this wasn’t a meeting to make a deal."

What's Next: The WGA is expected to release more information about the proposals on Wednesday, Aug. 23.

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