The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers concluded their meeting on Thursday evening, with plans to resume negotiations the following day. Throughout the day, the two parties had negotiated on issues such as artificial intelligence and data transparency.
According to sources familiar with the negotiations, the majority of the session was spent alternating between parties meeting together and labor and management meeting in caucuses. The negotiations, which began at 8:30 a.m. and ended at 6 p.m. at the Sherman Oaks Galleria offices of the AMPTP, addressed the WGA’s top priorities, including artificial intelligence and residual compensation linked to the success of individual streaming projects.
There is still more work to be done on both of these issues as well as staffing requirements for television, according to studio-side sources. One of the most important aspects of streaming transparency and compensation is the ability to calculate success. According to multiple studio-side sources who were apprised on the session’s discussions, AI remained a sticking point for both parties.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, the two parties are anticipated to meet again on Friday, with four of Hollywood’s most influential executives in attendance. The WGA negotiating committee verified this late Thursday night in an email to members: “The WGA and AMPTP met today for negotiations and will meet again tomorrow.
Your Negotiating Committee appreciates all the messages of support and solidarity we have received over the past few days, and requests that as many of you as possible join the picket lines tomorrow.” Notably, the statement did not originate from both the WGA and the AMPTP, as did the guild’s update to its members the day before.
Once again, those key leaders — Disney’s Bob Iger, Universal’s Donna Langley, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav — took part in the bargaining session on Thursday, as they did on Wednesday.
Their highly unusual attendance (major Hollywood studios typically dispatch labor relations executives to handle negotiations) as well as a joint statement issued by the WGA and the AMPTP, their first in this contentious round of 2023 negotiations, gave observers hope that progress was being made on Wednesday. Thursday, rumors circulated throughout the industry that an agreement was imminent or close.
Even though sources emphasized that compromises were being made, talks concluded Thursday evening without an agreement.
At 143 days, the ongoing WGA strike is quickly approaching the longest strike in the union’s history, which occurred in 1988 and lasted 154 days. The duration of the strike, coupled with the crucial addition of the SAG-AFTRA strike that began on July 14, has tested labor solidarity, studio finances, and industry willpower.