WGA & AMPTP Talks “Encouraging” Today; More Negotiations Set For Tomorrow
21.09.2023 - 00:01
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: The Writers Guild and studios and streamers are set to meet again tomorrow for further talks on a new contract for scribes.
After a long CEO-attended session today that one insider described as “very encouraging,” the WGA and the AMPTP will return to the latter’s Sherman Oaks’ offices on September 21, we’re told.
With Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Disney’s Bob Iger, Universal’s Donna Langley and Warner Bros Discovery’s David Zaslav in the room (as Deadline reported earlier today) joining AMPTP president Carol Lombardini and WGA chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman and others, the sit-down saw “incredible progress,” a source close to events says.
“This is what happens when principals get serious,” another well-positioned source noted. “Things start moving.”
Unsurprisingly, neither the WGA nor the AMPTP responded to request for comment on Wednesday’s bargaining or future talks. If either side does have a statement, this post will be updated. No details yet if Sarandos, Iger, Langley and Zaslav will be a part of tomorrow’s negotiations – but, based on how well today went, we wouldn’t bet against their presence, in-person or virtually.
The CEO Gang of Four in attendance or not, this current state of affairs is a far cry from where things were just a week ago.
As of last week, the AMPTP was insisting that the WGA hadn’t formally respond to its August 11 proposal, which the studios and streamers made public on August 22. The WGA has long said that it did respond to the August 11 proposal on August 15 and it was up to the AMPTP to make the next move.
Last week’s news of a meeting between the two parties today provided a bright spot in what appeared to be a stalemate heading into the Labor Day holiday. Earlier this week,