Hollywood studios released the details of their contract proposal to film industry’s screenwriters, the latest salvo in their bid to end a months-long strike that has stalled production and delayed new releases across the entertainment industry.
(Bloomberg) — Hollywood studios released the details of their contract proposal to film industry’s screenwriters, the latest salvo in their bid to end a months-long strike that has stalled production and delayed new releases across the entertainment industry.
The studios proposed increasing the salary for writers, protections against the use of artificial intelligence and sending the writers’ union quarterly reports disclosing viewership for series. Bloomberg reported many of the details of the offer last week.
Chief executive officers of major media companies have gotten more involved in the negotiations in recent weeks, hoping to bring the dispute that has lasted all summer to an end. A group of CEOs, including Walt Disney Co.’s Bob Iger, Netflix Inc.’s Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros Discovery Inc.’s David Zaslav met with the leadership of the Writers Guild of America on Tuesday.
Read More: Why Hollywood’s Actors and Writers Are on Strike: QuickTake
“Our priority is to end the strike so that valued members of the creative community can return to what they do best,” Carol Lombardini, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios, said in a statement. “We have come to the table with an offer that meets the priority concerns the writers have expressed.”
The WGA described the studios’ statement an attempt to make members “turn on each other,” according to a message posted on its website. The group promised a “more detailed description of the state of negotiations” this week.
The WGA and the studios have continued to meet since the studios proposed the new deal earlier this month. But the two sides have yet to resolve all their disagreements. The writers are still pushing for the studios to staff a mandatory number of writers on every show and pay them additional money based on the popularity of their work.
“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,” the WGA said in the statement. “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.”
–With assistance from Charles Capel.
(Updates with WGA response from fifth paragraph)
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