WGA strike: Hollywood studios send writers ‘best and final’ offer as deal nears on strike
By Oliver Darcy and Chris Isidore, CNN
(CNN) — The major film and television studios on Saturday evening delivered their “best and final” offer to the striking writers, a person close to the situation told CNN, adding to significant hope that the negotiations to end the months-long strike will conclude with an agreement this weekend.
Negotiators with the Writers Guild of America were expected to review the offer and deliver their response.
The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers spent Saturday negotiating for the fourth consecutive day. Should a tentative deal be reached, it would still need to be ratified by rank-and-file members before it could go into effect.
“The WGA and AMPTP met for bargaining on Saturday and will meet again on Sunday,” the two groups said in a statement.
The big four studio bosses — Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav, Disney chief Bob Iger, Netflix co-chief Ted Sarandos, and NBCUniversal studio chairman Donna Langley — were no longer in the Sherman Oaks room by Saturday afternoon, one person said, signaling nearly all the major issues had been resolved. The person stressed, while not directly in the room, the studio chiefs remained wholly engaged in the process.
Spokespeople for the AMPTP and the WGA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The WGA, which has over 11,000 members, has been on strike since May 2 with the work stoppage reaching its 145th day on Saturday. The strike is within two weeks of the longest strike in the union’s history, which lasted 154 days in 1988. Many productions had halted even before SAG-AFTRA joined the WGA on strike July 14.
Negotiations between the WGA and AMPTP have involved disputes over wages, worker protections, and artificial intelligence.
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Even should a tentative deal be reached, it would still need to be ratified by rank-and-file members before it could go into effect. And even after that, without an agreement with SAG-AFTRA, which represents about 160,000 actors, an end to the WGA strike by itself wouldn’t do much to resume halted productions.
The WGA went on strike May 2, with the work stoppage reaching its 145th day on Saturday, putting it within two weeks of the longest strike in the union’s history, which lasted 154 days in 1988. Many productions had halted even before SAG-AFTRA joined the WGA on strike July 14.
Both sides have similar sets of demands, including better wages, residuals payments from streaming services for their work, and job protections against the use of artificial intelligence.
Michelle Watson and Taylor Romine contributed to this report
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