WGA Members Overwhelmingly Approve Pattern Of Demands For Upcoming Contract Talks

As the WGA begins its second week of bargaining for a new contract with the AMPTP today, the guild is prepared for a strike, if it comes to that, though that’s by no means a foregone conclusion. The WGA’s current film and TV contract expires May 1.

Hundreds of WGA East members employed at Hearst Magazines Media staged a half-day walkout and rally today to demand a fair contract. The walkout at four of the company’s offices – in New York City, Easton, PA, Ann Arbor, MI, and Birmingham, AL – comes after more than two years of negotiations for a first-time contract. The last scheduled day of negotiations is March 28.

Hundreds of WGA East members who work for Hearst Magazines Media are planning to stage a walkout Thursday to demand a fair contract. The half-day action is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET and will last the remainder of the day.

Leaders of SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood’s Teamsters Local 399 showed their support for the WGA on Monday, posing with WGA leaders shortly before the 11 a.m. start of the Writers Guild’s contract negotiations with producers at the AMPTP’s headquarters in Sherman Oaks.

The editorial staff at Fox affiliate WNYW-TV New York has voted unanimously to ratify a new four-year contract with the WGA East. The 52-member bargaining unit includes news writers, writer/producers, assignment editors, segment producers, news assistants and feed coordinators.

With its contract talks with the AMPTP set to start this morning, the WGA is telling its members in a new video what to expect in the coming weeks amid an expected media blackout on the negotiations.

pic.twitter.com/SWmeB6SNcH“As you’re promoted, your minimum wage raises…but what’s happened is our minimum wage has become our ceiling,” she said. “They’ve decided that the lowest amount we are willing to accept is also the most they are willing to pay.”She added that many staff writers have been “forced to repeat that entry level job over & over again.”“And you’ll never guess who I’ve heard this happening to more than anyone else.

EXCLUSIVE: There was “fire and brimstone” at tonight’s WGA membership meeting – the last to be held before the start of contract negotiations with the AMPTP on Monday. The meeting, held via Zoom, was led by the co-chairs of the guild’s negotiating committee: former WGA West presidents Chris Keyser and David A. Goodman.

Leaders of the Writers Guild of America won’t discuss the specifics of the contract proposals they’ve exchanged with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. But in an interview with Deadline on Tuesday ahead of next week’s start of negotiations, they made it perfectly clear a deal can be reached without a strike if the companies take the needs of writers seriously.

Saying that “writers are not keeping up,” the WGA said today that its upcoming negotiations for a new film and TV contract “must significantly address writer compensation.” The talks are set to begin March 20, and the current contract expires May 1.

The Writers Guild of America announced in a memo on Tuesday that its members have overwhelmingly approved the pattern of demands set forth by leadership for its upcoming contract negotiation talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, setting the stage for negotiations to begin on March 20. 98.4% of the 5,643 votes were in favor of approving the pattern of demands, with only 90 votes against.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The WGA announced Tuesday that 98.4% of members had voted in favor of the “pattern of demands,” a loose outline of topics for discussion in upcoming negotiations. The vote was not unexpected, but does signal a broad consensus around issues like wages, streaming residuals and “mini-rooms.” The negotiations are set to begin on March 20, ahead of the May 1 expiration of the current contract.

Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Too $hort, Warren G, Berner and DJ Drama.From July 7 through Aug. 27, the hip-hop icons are taking off on their 33-concert ‘High School Reunion Tour’ that will take them to arenas and amphitheaters all over North America.That includes three stops in New York and New Jersey.First, the sextet will drop it like it’s hot at Camden, NJ’s Freedom Mortgage Pavilion on July 30.

Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa have announced a massive joint tour titled ‘High School Reunion’ across North America.Snoop announced the 33-date run via a poster on Instagram on March 7. The tour will kick off on July 7 in Vancouver before wrapping up the run in Irvine, California on August 27.

The DGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers will begin negotiations for a new film and TV contract on May 10. The DGA’s current contract expires June 30.

Princess Andre looks to be walking in her parents' footsteps as she prepares to carve out a career for herself in the world of fame. The 15-year-old is set follow the likes of Love Island's Molly Mae and Gemma Owen as she looks to sign a deal with a major fashion giant.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Meredith Stiehm, president of the WGA West, got right to the point in her remarks Sunday at the guild’s 2023 award ceremony. With contract negotiations less than two weeks aways, Stiehm rallied the troops about the need for solidarity, and she emphasized the guild’s role as serving as the “good sheriff” helping to tame the Wild West for writers. The guild, Stiehm told the crowd at the Fairmont Century Plaza, is “walking around like Gary Cooper — low key but watchful, vigilent and a little swagger.” The guild is “looking to keep the peace” but is devoted to enforcing the rules established by its contracts. “The guild says there are rules, there are laws,” she said referring to a fight that the WGA recently settled over $42 million in residual payments owed to guild members.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have settled on March 20 to begin negotiations on a new master TV and film contract. The clock is already ticking and strike fears are growing. The WGA’s current contract expires May 1. The issues that the scribe tribe will place on the charcoal-gray table in the enormous conference room at the AMPTP’s Sherman Oaks headquarters have come into sharp focus in recent months. Just about everybody agrees that the compensation standards for writers — as well as actors and directors, whose unions will also hold contract talks this year — have been outmoded by the streaming revolution. The hard part will be reaching a compromise on how to adapt them.

Steven Yeun is getting candid.

Writers Guild of America has completed its pattern of demands for its upcoming contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios in labor talks. The pattern of demands, which has been obtained by TheWrap and can be read below, has been sent to members WGA West and WGA East for an approval vote.