Two unions are on strike and there are no plans to restart negotiations with either of them, leaving Hollywood in limbo for the foreseeable future.
The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA have both said they are open to talking, but that the studios refuse to engage on their core issues.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, meanwhile, has said that the unions have been unwilling to drop items that are non-starters, like a demand for a share of streaming revenue and a minimum staffing level for TV writers.
The result is a double stalemate — with everyone waiting for other side to blink.
“We do have a plan,” said Mike Schur, a member of the WGA negotiating committee. “The plan is for them to call us on the phone and ask us to sit down. We’re not calling them.”
SAG-AFTRA began picketing on July 14, while WGA has been on strike for nearly three months. Insiders expect that not much will happen for at least a few weeks, and maybe not until Labor Day.
“We’re on a break,” said one studio source, quoting a line from the TV show “Friends.”
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, has said repeatedly that he is willing to return to negotiations whenever the AMPTP is ready. He has also said the studios have not reached out to him since talks broke off two weeks ago.
“The last engagement we had on that point was the 12th of July when they said to us they don’t think they’d be ready to talk for quite some time,” Crabtree-Ireland said on a Zoom call on Tuesday with publicists.
The studios had previously said they couldn’t talk to the WGA because they were focused on talks with the Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA.
But with a DGA deal complete and SAG-AFTRA on strike, the negotiating room at AMPTP headquarters is empty. Still, there has been no overture to the writers.
“There is no reason they can’t be talking to either one of us,” said David Goodman, co-chair of the WGA negotiating committee. “But it’s been what — 10 days of SAG being out? Twelve days? Let’s give them a minute. They’ve got to figure out what is their strategy to end these strikes. Because they need to end these strikes.”
The WGA has a number of demands, including a streaming residual that would account for popularity of shows and a minimum number of writers per TV show, based on the number of episodes. The AMPTP has rejected both those ideas, saying that the latter amounts to a “hiring quota.”
WGA leaders have said that the studios must be willing to negotiate on the union’s entire agenda.
“We have made it clear that the things we’re asking for are absolutely necessary,” Goodman said. “Until they agree with that premise, there isn’t going to be a conversation that’s going to be fruitful.”
Chris Keyser, the other WGA negotiations co-chair, said that the union is not setting “preconditions” on restarting talks, but that the AMPTP has to accept the basic structure the union has proposed.
“If they walked back into the room and said, ‘Listen, what we offered you on May 1, we’re still offering you,’ they’re just playing a game,” he said. “The structural changes that we require have to be made. Inside that structure, we are completely open to negotiating.”
With SAG-AFTRA, the two sides are at loggerheads over a proposal to give actors 2% of streaming revenue. The AMPTP has said that is a non-starter for several reasons.
For one, SAG-AFTRA wants a share of the streamers’ revenue, but it’s the production companies — not the streamers — who would be on the hook to pay it. For another, the union has proposed using Parrot Analytics, a third-party data company, to determine the value of a show, which the studios see as deeply unreliable.
The WGA has proposed a different version of a viewership-based residual, which would require data transparency from the companies.
“What’s important is how you get to a solution,” Schur said. “The companies have to admit a solution is required. When a show is really successful, you need to share in the success. Whether it’s SAG’s plan or our plan or some other plan, there has to be a better payment structure for actors, writers, directors and everybody when shows are successful.”
