WGA Tells Members Talks With AMPTP Still Ongoing As Strike Deadline Nears; Guild Says Picketing Will Begin Tuesday Afternoon If No Deal

Members of the WGA East employed by Hearst Magazines Media have overwhelmingly ratified what the guild is calling a “groundbreaking” first contract that covers some 560 writers, producers and editors at 28 of the publishing giant’s brands, including Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Popular Mechanics, Car & Driver, Oprah Daily, Seventeen, Elle, Redbook and Woman’s Day.

This year’s Honorary Palme d’or recipient Michael Douglas received a lengthy standing ovation as he cruised on stage in Buñuel theatre to chair a masterclass session where he broke down his career as an actor and producer.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Since the writers strike started on May 2, celebrities have turned out to support WGA members picketing for a better guild contract. Actors like Fred Armisen are also writers who are members of the WGA, while some SAG-AFTRA members are walking the line to support their colleagues. Since most TV shows and movies have suspended production until the strike is resolved, stars, writers and filmmakers like Christopher Nolan are taking to the streets to show their support for members of the Writers Guild of America.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Directors Guild of America is continuing its negotiations with the AMPTP, as companies hope to get a deal that could play a role in ending the two-week-old writers strike. Meanwhile, the Writers Guild of America told members Monday that the guild is winning the “PR war” against the studios, as members share their stories in the media. “It seems the whole world is on our side,” wrote Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, a WGA East vice president, in an email to members titled “Our Momentum Grows.” “Members’ individual stories of our broken system — of getting by on ten weeks of work a year, of residual checks amounting to pennies — are resonating with the public. They understand we are losing out on the middle-class American Dream. We are not the elite. We are just like them. We are them.”

Another TV shoot has been disrupted by striking writers, Michelle and Robert King’s supernatural drama for Paramount+ Evil, which has been filming its fourth season at Brooklyn Stages in Brooklyn.

Natalie Portman is ready to face off against Ryan Reynolds on the field!ET spoke to Portman at the premiere of her new docuseries,, chronicling the rise of the actress' Los Angeles-based professional women's soccer team, Angel City Football Club. Portman revealed that she's toyed with the idea of Angel City F.C.

Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which serves as labor representatives for Hollywood’s studios, have released a new statement breaking down their stance on the various sticking points that caused a deal with the Writers Guild of America to fall apart. In a four-page document that can be read here, the AMPTP addressed several issues that were raised by the WGA in their pattern of demands, most notably the guild’s proposal for a minimum of six writers on all TV productions with more required depending on the number of episodes.

Paramount CEO Bob Bakish said today that “writers are essential in creating content and… we hope we can come to a resolution that is good for everyone fairy quickly. But it’s also fair to say there is a pretty big gap today, and it’s really a multifaceted kind of bid and ask.”

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America West held a rally Wednesday night to demonstrate solidarity with the other Hollywood unions in their collective contract battles against Hollywood’s major employers. About 1,800 guild members attended the meeting at the Shrine Auditorium, and heard from WGA leaders about the reasons behind the two-day old strike. One of the stars of the show, however, was Lindsay Dougherty, the 39-year-old leader of Teamsters Local 399. “We’re all sticking together,” Dougherty told Variety outside the event. “We have an opportunity to change things in this industry, and the only way we’re going to do that is if we’re together.”

Veteran TV comedy showrunner and member of the WGA Negotiating Committee Danielle Sanchez-Witzel (My Name Is Earl) worked the guild’s picket line at Netflix on Day 1 of the writers strike. She spoke with Deadline about how the negotiations broke down,

William Earl Just hours after the Writers Guild of America called for a strike, members started picketing in New York City. The first picket took place at the Peacock NewFronts on 5th Ave., beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET. Over 100 writers and supports showed up within an hour, with that number swelling to approximately 200 as the day progressed. It was the only scheduled picket in NYC today, and had a lively turnout despite poor weather. Chants included “No contract, no content. The workers united will never be defeated,” “Get up, get down, NY is a union town,” and “No money, no funny!”

told NBC News, “As you know, we don’t directly respond to campaigns from here. But honestly, I forgot she was running.”Brzezinski and company also dissected the Republican strategy to shape a vote for Biden into a vote for Kamala Harris because “Joe Biden is hard to hate.”“They’ve struggled, the hardcore extremists, to have a message that’s anti Joe Biden and nasty enough to really resonate,” Elise Jordan said.

On Day 1 of the WGA strike, the guild is telling members to inform their agents, lawyers and managers that they are “immediately instructed to engage in no further negotiations, meetings or discussions with any struck company concerning my performance of writing services on future or pending projects, or for the sale or option of literary material I have written, alone or with a writing partner.”

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) has sent out guidance to its members over the strike and said it will bar non-members from joining the Guild in future if they break rank.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America has detailed the vast differences between writers and the studios that led to the first strike in 15 years, which will begin Tuesday. In a lengthy document, the guild spelled out its proposal for a TV staffing minimum, which would range from six to 12 writers per show, based on the number of episodes. That proposal is a non-starter for the studios, which declined to make a counter-offer. The guild also wants a guaranteed minimum number of weeks of employment per season, ranging from 10 weeks to 52 weeks. The studios likewise rejected that proposal and did not make a counter-offer.

The Writers Guild of America is on strike.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America told members Sunday to be ready to hit the picket lines if no agreement is reached by midnight on Monday. In an email, the guild asked members to fill out a “picketing survey,” providing their preferred time and location to join in, by noon on Monday. “The greatest amount of leverage we collectively bring to a strike action is the withdrawal of our labor,” the guild wrote. “Picketing is a key tactic to demonstrate that we are all in this together, and that until a strike is resolved, it’s not business as usual.” Negotiators for the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers worked on Saturday and Sunday at AMPTP headquarters in Sherman Oaks. The email provided no update on the talks, other than to say that the negotiating committee “continues to bargain with the AMPTP with the goal of reaching a fair deal by tomorrow’s May 1st contract deadline.”

EXCLUSIVE: The current Writers Guild of America contract expires in just over 48 hours, and the scribes and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers are taking it down to the wire in hopes of reaching an agreement.

EXCLUSIVE: As the deadline approaches to avert a threatened writers strike, IATSE President Matt Loeb has told leaders of his locals that it’s probably going to be do-or-die when the WGA’s current contract expires Monday night at midnight PT and that “he doubts an extension is in the cards.”

EXCLUSIVE: In the event of a strike by the Writers Guild, IATSE members working on struck shows have the “legal right” to honor the guild’s picket lines, though they might be replaced temporarily by non-union workers, according to IATSE president Matthew Loeb.