Hollywood was on tenterhooks on Wednesday after the Writers Guild of America (WGA) rejected an offer by studios and streamers to end the ongoing strike, fuelling fears of prolonged industrial action.
In the latest twist in a work stoppage which has now run for 114 days, the Guild responded angrily (see below) on Tuesday night to a memo sent to the media by the Hollywood companies’ negotiator Alliance Of Motion Picture And Television Producers (AMPTP).
The document made public for the first time what AMPTP called a “comprehensive package” of proposals offered to the union on August 11, a significant date which marked the official resumption of talks since negotiations initially broke down on May 1, triggering the strike.
The memo followed a meeting earlier on Tuesday between WGA negotiators and AMPTP top negotiator Carol Lombardini, Disney CEO Bob Iger, chairman of NBCUniversal Studio Group & chief content officer Donna Langley, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, and Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav. WGA said Hollywood companies had requested the meeting on Monday.
Later on Tuesday night WGA issued its own statement to members and took the studios and streamers to task for what it described as a ploy to make the union “cave” in the negotiations process.
The publication of the memo has shattered an apparent détente between the sides, who had continued to meet since that date in what was increasingly being seen by the industry as cause for cautious optimism.
Observers speculated AMPTP issued the memo to seize the initiative and added that the ploy had backfired, potentially undoing any goodwill that had been achieved in recent weeks and prolonging the strike.
Read the full email sent to WGA members on Tuesday night below:
Dear Members,
After 102 days of being on strike and of AMPTP silence, the companies began to bargain with us on August 11th, presenting us for the first time with a counteroffer.
We responded to their counter at the beginning of last week and engaged in further discussions throughout the week.
On Monday of this week, we received an invitation to meet with Bob Iger, Donna Langley, Ted Sarandos, David Zaslav and Carol Lombardini. It was accompanied by a message that it was past time to end this strike and that the companies were finally ready to bargain for a deal.
We accepted that invitation and, in good faith, met tonight, in hopes that the companies were serious about getting the industry back to work.
Instead, on the 113th day of the strike – and while SAG-AFTRA is walking the picket lines by our side - we were met with a lecture about how good their single and only counteroffer was.
We explained all the ways in which their counter’s limitations and loopholes and omissions failed to sufficiently protect writers from the existential threats that caused us to strike in the first place. We told them that a strike has a price, and that price is an answer to all – and not just some - of the problems they have created in the business.
But this wasn’t a meeting to make a deal. This was a meeting to get us to cave, which is why, not twenty minutes after we left the meeting, the AMPTP released its summary of their proposals.
This was the companies’ plan from the beginning – not to bargain, but to jam us. It is their only strategy – to bet that we will turn on each other.
Tomorrow we will send a more detailed description of the state of the negotiations. And we will see you all out on the picket lines and let the companies continue to see what labor power looks like.
In solidarity,
WGA Negotiating Committee
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