Having concluded their negotiations on Friday, Hollywood’s top companies and the Writers Guild of America will meet again the following week after the studios presented the union with its latest counter-offer.
In a message to members on Friday night, the WGA negotiating committee reiterated that studios had offered “responses to our proposals in all work areas” the previous Friday, Aug. 11. “We met this week and continued to exchange proposals. We will continue to meet next week,” the committee told members.
The group, co-chaired by Chris Keyser and David Goodman, also thanked its members for “messages of support and solidarity” and warned them of “rumors from third parties,” adding that “the Guild will communicate when we think there is something of significance to report.”
Prior to their Friday meeting, the two sides had also convened on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. According to a studio-side source, on Friday the AMPTP offered a response to the guild’s most recent counter-offer, putting the ball back in the WGA’s court. (THR has reached out to the WGA for comment.) The same day, top company CEOs met in the morning to discuss the progress of the discussions so far; no further details on that meeting were available as of press time.
Management-side sources have expressed optimism, saying that they feel talks are moving along but are not yet at a breakthrough point. The union, meanwhile, has remained relatively silent beyond Friday’s message. “Everybody is trying to step up and make a resolution,” one executive told THR. “There’s more positive momentum this week than last.”
The WGA updated their members on the 109th day of the 2023 writers’ strike, now nine days longer than the union’s last strike in 2007-08, a work stoppage that cost the California economy an estimated $2.1 billion. The strike, alongside a strike that SAG-AFTRA called in July, has brought scripted U.S. production under union contracts to a screeching halt, delayed the release dates of some titles and halted star promotion of upcoming projects.
Lesley Goldberg provided additional reporting.
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