WGA West President Meredith Stiehm Talks Tough Ahead Of AMPTP Negotiations, Says Guild Is “Good Sheriff In A Bad Town”

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.

From Cheers and Look Who’s Talking to Drop Dead Diva and Scream Queens, Kirstie Alley’s net worth accounts for what she made in her four decades in Hollywood before her death.

@VP Kamala Harris will return to The Late Show for an exclusive interview with @StephenAtHome on Wednesday, March 15th!Watch on @CBS & @ParamountPlus at 11:35/10:35c. #Colbert pic.twitter.com/kGNQSj3JZHBut while the episode will be her first time on Colbert’s show since before the election, it isn’t the first time she’s appeared on a Late Night show as Vice President.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Sharon Stone revealed on the “Table for Two” podcast that she lost custody of her son in part because of “Basic Instinct” and all the controversy the 1992 drama ignited over her infamous nude scene. After her divorce from Phil Bronstein was finalized in 2004, a judge ruled that he would have custody of their son, Roan. The two adopted Roan in 2000. Stone told podcast host Bruce Bozzi that “Basic Instinct” played a role in the custody battle. “I lost custody of my child,” Stone said. “When the judge asked my child — my tiny little boy, ‘Do you know your mother makes sex movies?’ Like, this kind of abuse by the system — that I was considered what kind of parent I was, because I made that movie.”

While it's nothing new, and we're certainly not complaining, Harry Styles' name is inescapable right now.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Directors Guild of America will enter negotiations on a new contract on May 10, the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said Monday. The DGA previously stated that it would wait until “later this spring” to conduct bargaining on a new contract, saying that the studios were “not yet prepared to address our key issues.” The current contract expires on June 30. The talks will begin 10 days after the current Writers Guild of America contract expires. It is possible that the WGA could be out on strike at that point. WGA talks are set to begin on March 20.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Accepting the Writers Guild of America award for original screenplay on Sunday night, Daniel Kwan skipped past the typical thank-yous to his agent and manager and instead shouted out his strike captain. “Get involved,” he told the crowd. “If you don’t have a captain yet, go find one… Let’s go give ’em hell.” It was a fitting capstone on the event, which at times felt more like a labor rally than an awards show. The WGA is set to begin negotiations with the major studios in just two weeks, and the possibility of a writers strike may be as high as it’s been since the last work stoppage in 2007-08.

The upcoming contract talks between the WGA and the AMPTP were evidently in the ether during the WGA Awards on Sunday.

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.

EXCLUSIVE: The Bridge creator Hans Rosenfeldt has said he is “not really watching crime shows at the moment,” as he talks up his big-budget Viaplay adaptation of fantasy novel Ronja the Robber’s Daughter, the streamer’s “most ambitious project to date.”

There is a major change in the WGA negotiating team ahead of the March 20 start of talks with studios on a new contract. WGAW Executive Director David Young, who has spearheaded multiple bargaining campaigns on behalf of the writers, is going on a medical leave of absence starting today, the guild’s leadership told members in an email this afternoon.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer David Young, the chief negotiator for the Writers Guild of America West, has bowed out of the negotiations on a new basic agreement due to a medical leave. The WGA informed members Tuesday that Ellen Stutzman, the assistant executive director of the guild, will take over as chief negotiator. The move comes just three weeks before the high-stakes negotiations are set to begin with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The current three-year contract is due to expire on May 1, and writers have been agitating for significant increases in wages and residuals and for measures to address “mini rooms.” Stutzman has been with the guild for 17 years, and has been assistant executive director since 2018.

Ruben Östlund has been named president of the jury at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Cannes organizers announced Tuesday morning in Paris.Östlund is a two-time winner of Cannes’ highest honor, the Palme d’Or, which he won in 2017 for “The Square” and last year for “Triangle of Sadness,” which is currently an Oscar nominee for Best Picture. He is one of only nine directors to have won the Palme twice, and one of only three to win the award for consecutive films.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Ruben Östlund, the Oscar-nominated director whose latest film “Triangle of Sadness” won last year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, will be back at the French festival to preside over the jury of its 76th edition. Östlund is a Cannes regular, having won the festival’s top prize twice, for “Triangle of Sadness” in 2022 and for “The Square” in 2017. Before that, he presented two films at Un Certain Regard, including “Force Majeure,” which won the Jury Prize. “I am happy, proud and humbled to be trusted with the honor of jury president for this year’s competition at the Festival de Cannes,” said Östlund, who will be the first Swede to head the jury in 50 years, following the footsteps of Ingrid Bergman. “Nowhere in the film world is the anticipation as strong as when the curtain rises on the films in competition at the  festival.”

The Cannes Film Festival has appointed Swedish director and two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund as jury president for its upcoming 76th edition, running from May 16 to 27.

EXCLUSIVE: The WGA is planning a series of meetings with top tier showrunners this week as it looks to rally the troops and gain support ahead of its negotiations with the AMPTP.

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.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Bryan Cranston said in an interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace that Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan could be received as a “racist remark,” and he asked both Wallace and viewers at home if they’ve ever taken time to consider why that is the case. “The ‘Make America Great Again’ – my comment is: Do you accept that that could possibly be construed as a racist remark?” Cranston said. “And most people, a lot of people go, ‘How could that be racist? Make America Great Again?’ I said, ‘So just ask yourself from, from an African American experience, when was it ever great in America for the African American? When was it great?’”

Kim Kardashian’s daughter, North West, and Selena Gomez’s little sister, Gracie Teefey, have shown that they are above any social media drama. The pair proved to be very good friends, spending time together and having fun while cooking and playing.North and Gracie shared some funny clips on TikTok, all while the internet was focused on Selena and Hailey Bieber’s apparent feud, which apparently included Kylie Jenner.