WGA Calls Day 100 Of Writers Strike A “Milestone Of Shame” For AMPTP, But Optimism For A Deal Remains – Deadline

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Editors note: One in a series of stories marking the 100th day of the WGA strike.

The writers strike has hit Day 100 – the point at which the last walkout by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) ended in 2007/08.

It’s a significant juncture, one that Chris Keyser and David A. Goodman, who co-chair the WGA’s negotiating committee, call a “milestone of shame” for the AMPTP.

It also comes five days after the latest attempt to get both sides back to the negotiating table.

That meeting between the WGA West’s Chief Negotiator Ellen Stutzman and her General Counsel Tony Segall and AMPTP boss Carol Lombardini and her team wasn’t as productive as many had hoped.

While the WGA, late on Friday night, revealed that there was “no agreement” on resuming negotiations for a new MBA and, in a caustic note to members said that the “AMPTP playbook continues”, there were reasons to be more optimistic than at first glance.

If you ignore the furor around press blackouts and trade leaks, the WGA stated that it was “willing to engage with the companies and resume negotiations in good faith to make a fair deal for all writers”.

The AMPTP was also willing to increase its offer on a few writer-specific TV minimums and discuss AI.

There is a “great desire to forge ahead” with official talks, according to one studio insider, and don’t be surprised to see another invite extended to resume such discussions soon.

As the writers wait for that invitation, there are conversations taking place between studio executives and Lombardini and her team at the AMPTP discussing the latest state of play, having seen a preview of the issues each side intends to bring back to the table upon resumption.

There are, obviously, still many issues that need to be resolved in some form; the studios continue to balk at the topic of writers’ room staffing sizes and success-based residuals, although the latter is less specific than the actors’ performance-based asks.

The fact that the AMPTP is using the deal that the Director Guild of America (DGA) struck as a basis for talks has also not gone down well with writers.

But the writers themselves have added a couple of matters to the agenda. There’s the issue of a health care benefit extension and additional plan funding. The guild is also seeking the right for individual WGA members to honor the other unions’ picket lines, which — given the actors walkout — seems both complicated and something that would make it hard for people to return to work.

Keyser and Goodman, in a statement provided to Deadline to mark Day 100 of the writers strike, said, “The refusal to take writers’ reasonable proposals seriously has caused the WGA strike to last 100 days and counting; it serves only as a milestone of shame for the AMPTP. They and their member studios are wholly responsible for the over three-month shutdown of the industry and the pain it has caused workers and all others whose livelihoods depends on this business. The cost of settling the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes is far less than the damage their intractability has caused. Ultimately, the studios have no choice but to make a fair deal. Until then, we remain resolved and united.”

Rob Forman, who is a lot coordinator at NBCUniversal, Co-Chair of the LGBTQ+ Writers Committee and is running for the WGA West’s board of directors, said Day 100 is a “weird milestone”.

“This is just a very different negotiation [compared to 2007/08] because the business model has changed so much. If it takes 100 days, 150 days, 200 days, writers and actors are going to be out here to mandate a fair contract that reflects the new business model that the CEOs of the AMPTP companies have adopted and that they all say is about to turn profitable. They’re telling that to Wall Street investors, so the people, the creators, the workers who are delivering that profitability by creating the content for them, we need to see the fruits of that labor,” he told Deadline at the NBCUniversal picket on August 4.

Michele Mulroney, a VP of the WGAW, said writers were still feeling “strong”. “Of course, we wish that for the last 100 days we’ve been doing what we love to do, which is writing but unfortunately, you know, we’ve been forced out on strike and we have become very clear over the last 100 days. We’ve got even more clarity about what writers need than we had on day one. The guild is more united than it’s ever been,” she added, speaking at the NBCUniversal picket on August 4.

To mark the fact that the writers have been walking the picket lines for the last 100 days – meaning that the 2023 strike will now be longer than the 2007/08 action and is 53 days away from becoming the longest in the guild’s history, Deadline is highlighting some of the key trends, figures and topics dominating the strike.

There will be a look at the impact on the movie business and the issues facing feature film screenwriters. We’ll also profile the strike regulars that have been pounding the pavement every day since May and we’ll rank the different studio picket lines from the most desirable to the most chaotic.