WGA and AMPTP Meet Again; CEOs to Talk Friday About Path to Ending Strike

In her first major hire since being named Chairman of NBCUniversal Studio Group and Chief Content Officer, Donna Langley has named Liz Jenkins as her Chief Business Officer. Langely has also formed a new studio leadership group and added Peter Levinsohn and Jimmy Horowitz to cabinet positions.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery expects the ongoing Hollywood strikes to have a $300 million-$500 million negative impact on the company’s 2023 earnings.

Michaela Zee Chris Keyser, co-chair of the Writers Guild of America negotiating committee, has shared a special message over the Labor Day holiday. After acknowledging the WGA staff, who have “dedicated their working lives to the cause of writers and writing,” Keyser shared key points of the ongoing writers strike. “We all know the list by heart by now,” he said in the video message.

It is possible that in his search for CNN’s next boss, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav simply checked back through the news network’s archives. 

California Treasurer Fiona Ma has sent letters to the CEOs of seven Hollywood studios urging a return to the bargaining table with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA to end a months-long double strike that’s shut down much of the entertainment industry and is taking a major toll on the California economy.

EXCLUSIVE: Amid growing speculation of internal divisions within the C-suites and a lack of any apparent path forward to end the writers and actors strikes, the chiefs of Hollywood’s biggest studios are set to gather today.

A man and a woman have admitted moving a mum's dead body out of a flat and dumping it on a footpath. Kerry Newman, 40, died on July 17.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America told members Wednesday that the latest offer from the studios is “not yet good enough,” and said that it would continue to fight to address “existential threats” to the writing profession. In an email, the WGA picked out half a dozen areas where it believes the studio offer falls short. The guild noted that the studios are willing to enshrine the concept of a TV staff size in the contract for the first time.

Universal Studios Group Chair Pearlena Igbokwe has said there is determination from all sides to find an “equitable” solution to the Hollywood labor strikes.

Just hours after the studios and streamers made public their latest “comprehensive package” towards a deal with the WGA, the guild has responded – and its seems the AMPTP and top CEOs may have strategically overplayed their hand.

WGA leaders met face-to-face with key CEOs on Tuesday evening as executives sought to pitch the guild on their most recent contract offer in the hopes of ending the nearly four-month-old strike. Late Tuesday, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers released details of the contract offer presented to the WGA on Aug. 11.

After four straight days of bargaining, the Writers Guild said tonight that it will meet again next week with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer UPDATED: The Writers Guild of America met again with negotiators from the major studios on Friday afternoon, but the sides appeared to make little progress toward ending the 109-day strike. The guild issued a message to members Friday evening confirming that the sides plan to gather again next week. The guild has held talks each of the last four days with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, but the two sides remain far apart on the major issues, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

Talks continued but no sign of a Friday afternoon breakthrough.

The Writers Guild and the AMPTP met Thursday for a third time this week in an attempt to hammer out a deal to end the ongoing writers’ strike. It remains uncertain whether they’ll meet again Friday, but Deadline has confirmed that the studios’ CEOs are planning to meet Friday to discuss where things now stand.

EXCLUSIVE: Sources are telling Deadline that the Writers Guild and AMPTP are resuming talks this afternoon. We’re told it’s not in person, rather a zoom. We understand that the WGA will be delivering their counter to AMPTP’s counterproposal from Friday.

the news of his death has celebrities and prominent figures from all industries paying tribute to his longstanding legacy. Avant, the beloved former Motown chairman whose work as an industry executive and mentor earned him the nickname the «Black Godfather» of music, sports, politics and entertainment, died Sunday at his Los Angeles home.

Clarence Avant, known within the music industry as "The Black Godfather," has died.The famed music executive "passed away gently" on Aug. 13, his family shared in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. He was 92.

Clarence Avant, who was dubbed the “Black Godfather” of music and entertainment, has died aged 92, his family has confirmed.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Clarence Avant, whose unofficial title of the “Black Godfather” spanned the worlds of music, sports, entertainment and politics, died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles, according to a statement from his family. No cause of death was provided; he was 92. “It is with a heavy heart that the Avant/Sarandos family announce the passing of Clarence Alexander Avant,” the statement from his children, Nicole and Alexander and son-in-law Ted Sarandos.