WGA and AMPTP Fail to Agree on Resumed Talks, Strike to Continue

In a letter to members, WGA accuses studios of leaking details about ‘confidential’ meet-up

Hopes for renewed contract talks between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have been dashed as the WGA informed members in a memo that the two sides remain too far apart after a Friday meeting with AMPTP president Carol Lombardini

Further, the guild accused AMPTP of violating its own request for a media blackout and leaking details about the meeting to the press.

According to WGA, chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman and the guild’s general counsel Tony Segall met with Lombardini and unnamed AMPTP staff to discuss, among other things, the aforementioned media blackout, as well as “a potential negotiation protocol and a preview of the issues each side intends to bring back to the table upon resumption.”

However, no agreement was reached on any of these items, WGA says, because AMPTP said it needed to consult with member studios first.

The memo then outlined where, according to WGA, the studios currently stand regarding the various issues that led to the strike. Among them, again according to the guild, AMPTP insists that any new deal effectively match the one reached with the Directors Guild of America in June.

In addition, the memo says, Stutzman “made clear that in addition to a comprehensive response from the AMPTP on our proposals in all work areas, we will need to address issues arising from the strike, including a health care benefit extension and additional plan funding, reinstatement of striking writers, and arbitration of disputes arising during the strike.”

The memo also confirms that WGA wants to protect the right of individual members “to honor other unions’ picket lines as they have honored ours during this strike.”

The negotiating committee “remains willing to engage with the companies and resume negotiations in good faith to make a fair deal for all writers, even with this early confirmation that the AMPTP playbook continues,” the memo says.

Earlier this week, Lombardini invited WGA leaders to meet for the first time since talks broke off on May 1 and the first writers strike since 2007 began. Next week, the WGA strike will pass the 100-day mark, surpassing the length of the 2007-08 strike.

WGA leaders warned their members in a memo sent on Thursday that it was possible that the meeting with AMPTP would not result in talks resuming, noting that such was the case during a meeting that took place in the first month of the 2007-08 WGA strike that ended without a deal and with the strike continuing for another two months.

“Playbooks die hard,” the guild’s negotiating committee wrote in that memo. “Every move they make at the bargaining table and every rumor away from it needs to be evaluated through the lens of their attempts to get us to accept less.”

“We’re not falling for it,” the memo added. “Writers — screenwriters, Appendix A writers, episodic television writers, all writers — have marched together for 94 days now. We have struck to make writing a viable profession for all of us, now and in the future. We have not come all this way, and sacrificed this much, to half-save ourselves.”

Among the key sticking points since the strike began are proposals by the Writers Guild that would curtail the use of “minirooms,” which are writers rooms that are hired prior to a show’s production commencing and sometimes before it is even greenlit.

The guild sees “minirooms” as a way for studios to avoid keeping writers employed during production to reduce costs, inhibiting the ability of staff writers to gain the experience they need to move up to higher paid positions. Proposals for minimum staffing requirements on shows throughout production were rejected outright by the AMPTP.

In the memo to members, WGA leaders say that Lombardini informed them that the studios were still “not willing to engage on the preservation of the writers’ room, or success-based residuals,” along with some other writer-specific proposals that were not addressed in the AMPTP’s counterproposal prior to the strike.

In response, Stutzman informed Lombardini that the Guild stayed firm in its position that “all the fundamental issues over which writers have been striking these past three months would be addressed in this new contract, and that no segment of the membership would be left behind.”

“Rest assured, this committee does not intend to leave anyone behind, or make merely an incremental deal to conclude this strike,” the memo concluded.

Read the memo from WGA leadership below:

Ellen Stutzman and Tony Segall met with Carol Lombardini and AMPTP staff this afternoon for what Carol stated was a confidential sidebar to discuss resuming negotiations for a new MBA. Topics included – at the AMPTP’s insistence – press blackouts. Also discussed was a potential negotiation protocol and a preview of the issues each side intends to bring back to the table upon resumption.

As of now, there is no agreement on these items, because the AMPTP said they needed to consult with their member studios before moving forward.

Our intention after the confidential meeting was to send a simple email to you all letting you know we would get back to you when there was more specific information about resuming negotiations.

However, before the negotiating committee even had a chance to meet, our communications department began hearing from the trades asking for comments on studio-leaked rumors of the contents of the confidential meeting. This is after the AMPTP spent much of the meeting emphasizing the need for a press blackout.

Since the studios are leaking to the press we need to let you know what was said in the meeting.

First, Carol informed us that the DGA deal would be the deal on any pattern issues.

She stated they were willing to increase their offer on a few writer-specific TV minimums – and willing to talk about AI – but that they were not willing to engage on the preservation of the writers’ room, or success-based residuals. She did not indicate willingness to address screenwriter issues, Appendix A issues, and many of the other proposals that remain on our list.

On behalf of the Guild, Ellen reiterated the expectation that all the fundamental issues over which writers have been striking these past three months would be addressed in this new contract, and that no segment of the membership would be left behind.

Ellen made clear that, in addition to a comprehensive response from the AMPTP on our proposals in all work areas, we will need to address issues arising from the strike, including a health care benefit extension and additional plan funding, reinstatement of striking writers, and arbitration of disputes arising during the strike. We will also seek the right for individual WGA members to honor other unions’ picket lines as they have honored ours during this strike.

Carol’s response – something she repeated three times during the meeting – echoes what was written in the AMPTP press statement yesterday: “People just want to get back to work.”

We agree, with the caveat that those conditions that have made writers’ jobs increasingly untenable must first be addressed.

Your committee remains willing to engage with the companies and resume negotiations in good faith to make a fair deal for all writers, even with this early confirmation that the AMPTP playbook continues. But rest assured, this committee does not intend to leave anyone behind, or make merely an incremental deal to conclude this strike.

For all of TheWrap’s WGA strike coverage, click here.

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