There looked to be a ray of light 113 days into the Writers Guild of America strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The AMPTP had finally reached out to the WGA’s negotiating committee with a new counteroffer, bringing both sides closer together and, hopefully, hastening the end of a work stoppage that had erupted on July 14 to include the Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Both parties gathered on Tuesday evening, and the meeting was a disaster.
AMPTP president Carol Lombardini was joined by David Zaslav of Warner Bros. Discovery, Bob Iger of Disney, Donna Langley of Universal, and Ted Sarandos of Netflix, but instead of negotiating, the quintet launched into a lecture about the quality of their counteroffer — which was their first and, evidently, final counteroffer. When WGA negotiators objected to the counteroffer’s various “limitations and loopholes,” the AMPTP revealed the planned deal’s specifics to the public. The WGA was understandably enraged (it is the committee’s responsibility to present any proposed settlement to their membership), prompting a vehement denunciation of the AMPTP’s bad faith methods.
We are now even farther into the strike, and if the AMPTP’s purpose on Tuesday night was to redouble the writers’ commitment while keeping a large number of people out of work, mission accomplished. However, if the AMPTP can be persuaded to act like good human beings, there may be a way ahead.
AMPTP’s Proposal
The AMPTP has offered a compounded 13% raise over the three-year contract, which they claim is the union’s greatest wage boost in 35 years. Meanwhile, the agreement calls for a 15% hike in minimum weekly rates in the first year, followed by additional increases over the next two years.
The increase in domestic and foreign residuals, which would rise from $72,067 to $87,546 per episode over three exhibition years, is certainly the most appealing aspect of the counteroffer.
However, the idea is strangely ambiguous when it comes to audience figures (which streamers have been exceedingly hesitant to share) and Generative Artificial Intelligence. The AMPTP’s exact phrasing on viewership is as follows:
“For the first time, the WGA will receive viewership data in the form of quarterly confidential reports that will include total SVOD view hours per title.” The WGA will be able to propose ideas to reorganize the current SVOD residual framework as a result of this greater openness.”
There is no reason why viewership data should be so strictly guarded. All of this accomplishes is put WGA negotiators and elected board members in the untenable position of hiding these figures from their colleagues. It also pushes an agreement on SVOD residual payments far into the future. This needs to be worked out right away.
While the proposal states that “Written material produced by GAI will not be considered literary material,” and that “A writer will not be disadvantaged if any part of the script is based on GAI-produced material, so that the writer’s compensation, credit, and separated rights will not be affected by the use of GAI-produced material,” there’s plenty of room for interpretation. The overall issue with this offer is its lack of detail. And when you lecture grownups that they have no idea how good they’ll have it if they take the deal, you get some very irritated folks.
The Response of the WGA
Though some WGA members have voiced cautious hope about a couple of the AMPTP’s concessions, the general perception is that this is a strategy to sow discord within the ranks.According to a recent news statement from the WGA, “this was the companies’ plan from the beginning — not to bargain, but to jam us.” It’s their only strategy: to bet on us turning on each other.”
“We explained how their counter’s limitations, loopholes, and omissions failed to adequately protect writers from the existential threats that prompted our strike in the first place.” We warned them that a strike has a cost, and that cost is an answer to all — not just some — of the difficulties they’ve caused in the workplace.”
The entire counteroffer did not land on its feet.”Brooklyn Nine-Nine” writer Andy Bobrow expressed cautious optimism about the residuals increase in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:
“By comparison, my ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ episodes earned me around $60,000 per episode over a 15 to 20-year period, and that show syndicated about as well as you can do.” The producers’ high-budget streaming plan is $87,000 over a three-year period. And that would apply to all shows, not just the hits.”
But if you want to know how the WGA negotiating committee is feeling, look no farther than “The Wire” creator David Simon, who said on whatever we call Twitter these days:
“Honestly, I’m amazed the CEOs could misread the landscape so badly that they thought a tone-deaf lecture and the timed leak of a subpar, don’t-read-the-fine-print offer would sway any WGA members.” They have no idea how angry and committed the picket lines are. #WGAStrong”
When will Hollywood Resume Production?
In their infinite wisdom, the AMPTP chose to conduct a two-front labor war by not just undercutting SAG-AFTRA, but also by proposing to create digital clones of background performers that could be utilized in perpetuity without remuneration to the actor. So, once they strike an arrangement with the WGA, they’ll have to negotiate with another, equally enraged union. Only then will the film and television industries be able to resume operations.
This is troubling because, thus far, studio executives have boasted about prolonging the strike until writers face homelessness. Such feelings have fueled strikers, who continue to show up to picket lines in alarmingly large numbers every day. Though some of the unions’ top earners have been doing their part to help the working class, there will come a moment when rent and bills will pile up to possibly impossible levels.
I have no question about the dedication of union members, but I wonder if these executives, who have seen their firms’ stock prices plummet since the start of the WGA strike, would rather breach the system and float away on their golden parachutes than do right by the artists who have made them wealthy.
