In the first sign of progress towards a resolution of the US industry’s labour strife, representatives from the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance Of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) are set to meet on Friday (August 4).
The WGA notified its members of the meeting late on Tuesday in a brief message that said: “The AMPTP, through [Alliance president] Carol Lombardini, reached out to the WGA today and requested a meeting this Friday to discuss negotiations.”
The message added: “We’ll be back in communication with you sometime after the meeting with further information. As we’ve said before, be wary of rumours. Whenever there is important news to share, you will hear it directly from us.”
The meeting will be the first official contact between negotiators from the Guild and the Alliance, representing the studios and streamers, since contract talks broke down on May 2, leading to the writers’ now nearly three-month long strike.
Hopes that the meeting will lead to a resumption of negotiations will, however, be tempered by the fact that the parties appeared to be far apart on some issues before the strike began. A WGA statement at the time said that the Alliance had rejected Guild proposals and refused to make counter offers on issues including the size of writers rooms and viewer-based streaming residuals.
It is not yet clear how the meeting between employers and writers might affect the position of actors union SAG-AFTRA, which has now been on strike for nearly three weeks. Both the actors and the employers have recently indulged in some heated rhetoric over their respective positions.
The WGA’s last strike, in 2007, lasted 100 days. Actors last staged a major stoppage in 1980, for more than three months.
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