Progress and maybe an end? Speculation was rife in Hollywood on Friday, the third day of a new round of negotiations that could end the writers’ strike that has paralyzed the industry for almost five months.
The studios and the WGA, the industry’s writers union, resumed talks on Wednesday about sharing streaming revenue and regulating the use of artificial intelligence, after almost a month of radio silence.
Signs of progress are emerging from the discussions, industry observers say. The big names from Disney (Bob Iger), Netflix (Ted Sarandos), Warner Bros (David Zaslav) and NBCUniversal (Donna Langley) were around the table on Thursday.
According to the specialized magazine Deadline, they were also supposed to be present on Friday. Negotiations were still ongoing as of Friday afternoon, a film industry source confirmed.
Another encouraging sign: The WGA and the association, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), issued a joint press release Wednesday afternoon to announce expanded talks.
144 days of strike
According to many observers, this unusual approach raises hopes that a deal is imminent. At the very least, it denotes a reduction in the gap between the two parties, after 144 days of strike that practically paralyzed the industry.
Since mid-July, actors have also been on strike, paralyzing the vast majority of film and television series production in the United States.
At the beginning of September, the Financial times A study by the Milken Institute estimates the cost of this double social movement, not seen since 1960, for the Californian economy at $5 billion.
Screenwriters and actors share similar demands. The distribution of income linked to streaming remains the crux of the matter: they want to be able to earn much more when one of their films or series is a success on a platform, instead of receiving a lump sum payment, usually quite low, regardless. popularity of the program.
The two sectors also want safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence: actors fear that their image or voice will be cloned, while screenwriters fear that AI could be used for scripts and that they will be paid less, or that their scenarios will be use to train robots.
Even in the event of an agreement between studios and scriptwriters, the actors would continue to strike. Their union, SAG-AFTRA, has not spoken to employers since mid-July. But according to the specialized press, an agreement with the leaders of the sector would allow the actors’ strike to end.
Source: BFM TV
