Billy Ray and Todd Garner are back for Week 6 of the Writers Guild standoff on Deadline’s Strike Talk podcast. Click below to listen.
01.06.2023 - 22:17 / variety.com
Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer This is not 2008. That was the message sent on Thursday by the Writers Guild of America, which argues that the current strike — now a month old — will not end the way the last one did 15 years ago. In 2008, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers got a deal with the Directors Guild of America, which set the pattern for the deal that ended the writers strike after 100 days. In an email to members, the WGA argued that the studios are once again pursuing a similar “divide and conquer” strategy.
“That strategy, however, depends on divided unions,” the WGA told its members. “This year is different.” The WGA argued that the Hollywood guilds are united in a way they weren’t in 2008, and that they won’t be forced to go along with “pattern” bargaining.
“The essence of the strategy is to make deals with some unions and tell the rest that’s all there is,” the WGA said. “It’s gaslighting, and it only works if unions are divided.” The WGA emphasized that the strike will only end when the companies agree to negotiate “on our full agenda.” The DGA is currently negotiating its contract with the AMPTP, and it has only a few days left before the studios are scheduled to begin talks with SAG-AFTRA. The DGA is focused primarily on getting a better deal on streaming residuals, with a formula that will account for the growth in international subscribers. The WGA is also interested in such a formula, but has many other demands as well, including a minimum staff size for TV writers rooms, a minimum number of weeks of work per show, provisions on artificial intelligence, and a streaming formula that pays more for popular shows. The DGA is not believed to be pursuing those items. On Wednesday,
Billy Ray and Todd Garner are back for Week 6 of the Writers Guild standoff on Deadline’s Strike Talk podcast. Click below to listen.
Kate Ferdinand insisted “not all step mums are wicked” as she released a children’s book about blended families.The 32 year old, who is expecting another child with husband Rio Ferdinand in a matter of weeks, said she wanted to “change the narrative” about stepmothers with positive stories for youngsters. The former TOWIE star is already mum to two year old son Cree with her husband - and a stepmum to Rio’s children Lorenz, 16, Tate, 14, and Tia, 12, from his marriage to Rebecca Ellison, his late wife who died of breast cancer in 2015.
Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The membership of SAG-AFTRA has voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike authorization, maximizing the guild’s leverage ahead of negotiations that begin on Wednesday. The guild announced Monday night that 97.91% of the voting members supported the authorization. Turnout was 47.69%. The vote comes as the Writers Guild of America strike enters its sixth week. Many SAG-AFTRA members have already joined WGA members walking the picket lines. The leaders of both guilds have expressed solidarity with each other several times this year. The writers strike has caused a sharp downturn in production, especially in television. If SAG-AFTRA goes on strike, any remaining film and TV production would halt immediately. The union represents 160,000 performers.
Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA congratulated the Directors Guild of America on reaching an agreement with the studios on Sunday, but both groups stressed that the deal does not change their own goals. Both guilds are intent on pushing back against “pattern bargaining,” in which the terms of the DGA deal are typically applied to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. The WGA has been on strike for a month, while SAG-AFTRA begins its negotiations on Wednesday. “Our bargaining strategy has never relied upon nor been dependent on the outcome or status of any other union’s negotiations, nor do we subscribe to the philosophy that the terms of deals made with other unions bind us,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the executive director of SAG-AFTRA, in a statement.
SAG-AFTRA, which begins negotiations for a new contract on Wednesday, said today that its bargaining strategy remains unchanged in the wake of the tentative deal made last night by the Directors Guild and the studios.
Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Directors Guild of America announced a tentative deal with the studios on Saturday night, providing pay hikes and an improved residual for international streaming. But a summary provided by the DGA makes no mention of pegging the streaming residual to viewership. That indicates that residuals will be continue to be the same on streaming platforms — whether a show is a hit or a flop. The DGA residual term is an especially significant provision, because it tends to be applied to the other guilds in “pattern” bargaining. According to the DGA summary, the deal will provide a 76% increase in foreign residuals for the largest platforms.
Reaction is coming in after the Directors Guild and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reached a tentative deal on a new three-year contract late Saturday night. Striking writers express some disappointment in their sister union while showing resolve in their own fight for a fair deal with the studios.
The Directors Guild’s tentative agreement with the studios for a new film and TV contract, reached late last night, eliminated the prospect of an unprecedented WGA, DGA and SAG-AFTRA three-guild strike which would’ve paralyzed the film and TV industry. It also likely won’t bring the labor peace the studios and streamers are looking for. But it brings even more attention to the WGA, whose strike is in its second month.
75-year-old actor played the lead character of Sam Malone in the long-running series, which aired from 1982 to 1993. On Friday, Danson reunited with co-stars George Wendt and John Ratzenberger and “Cheers” co-creators James Burrows, Les Charles and Glen Charles for a panel discussion about the show during the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas.While discussing why “Cheers” ended after 11 seasons, Danson admitted that he was behind it.
Apple may have entered the virtual reality arena earlier today with the unveiling of a new platform and headset, launched with the help of Disney boss Bob Iger, but in the real world it spent the day being targeted by writers.
Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Chris Keyser, the co-chair of the Writers Guild of America negotiating committee, said in a video message Friday that the WGA is prepared to fight alone if necessary. Keyser said that the guild, which has been on strike since May 2, is “girded by an alliance” with SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild of America. But he promised that even if both guilds reach an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers this month, “We will fight on.” “Any deal that puts this town back to work runs straight through the WGA and there is no way around us,” Keyser said. “We are strong enough — we have always been strong enough — to get the deal we need with writer power alone.”
More than 50 Democratic members of the New York state legislature, reminding the AMPTP that companies it represents are the beneficiaries of “hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits” every year, are calling on the studios to return to the bargaining table with the Writers Guild and make a deal to end the month-long strike.
Writers Guild of America has assured members in a memo that a potential agreement between Hollywood’s studios and the Directors Guild of America will not break their strike, saying that solidarity between the entertainment unions will safeguard against it and that the “era of divide and conquer is over.”“Our position is clear,” the guild wrote. “To resolve the strike, the companies will have to negotiate with the WGA on our full agenda.”In a memo posted to the WGA’s contract website, the guild’s negotiating team pointed to the conclusion of the last writers strike in 2008, as the DGA reached a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that became the pattern upon which the AMPTP set its deal with the WGA.
Netflix shareholders declined to support a proposal affirming the pay packages for top executives during a vote at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday.
The Writers Guild told its members today that the AMPTP’s “divide and conquer” strategy isn’t working, and that if the companies think they can pit one guild against the other, make a deal with the Directors Guild and force the WGA to accept it and end its strike – as was the case with the WGA’s last strike – they are mistaken.
Love Island viewers should “expect the unexpected” as the hit series is set to be turned on its head for the upcoming 10th season, a show boss has said. The new series of the ITV dating show, which will see Maya Jam a host her first summer season, will begin on Monday night with a new batch of 10 islanders.
exiting Trump’s legal team, apparently due to general infighting among the attorneys.Wagner was quick to point out on Tuesday night that Parlatore is now at least the seventh former Trump attorney to either testify to Jack Smith’s grand jury or speak to investigators directly, signaling that “it seems like these attorneys are starting to get worried about going down with the ship.”Wagner also highlighted new reporting from The Guardian that says Parlatore was specifically waved off by his colleagues when he attempted to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago office for more documents, which of course, ended up being where more documents were eventually found.“It would also seem to buttress a potential obstruction case,” Wagner said. “A case, if you read the reporting, already seems pretty strong.
Ryan Gosling is a proud husband and father.
Al Pacino is set to become a father for the fourth time at the age of 83. A representative for The Godfather actor confirmed to TMZ that his 29-year-old girlfriend, Noor Alfallah, is eight months pregnant. While the baby will be their first child together, it will be the acting legend's fourth.
EastEnders star Danielle Harold weighs in on whether she’d join another soap opera after Lola Pearce-Brown’s devastating departure from the BBC show.The character received a terminal cancer diagnosis in October last year with doctors telling her the awful news that she only had months to live. Since then, Lola has been cared for by her husband, Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), as her condition deteriorates with the BBC set to air her heartbreaking death scene this week. With Lola’s fate confirmed, Danielle reveals whether she would be up for joining another soap opera after this.