WGA West President Meredith Stiehm Warns of Guild Contract Talks: ‘It Could Get a Little Rough’

The Writers Guild of America is taking on the robots.

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.

Sharon Stone made an emotional speech last night at the Women’s Cancer Research Fundraiser (WCRF), where she accepted the Courage Award. She opened up about her journey with breast cancer, and her brother’s death, and encouraged those watching to donate to a worthy cause. In the speech, she also revealed that she lost “half her money” with the “banking thing.”The Silicon Valley Bank collapsed this week after the bank disclosed it had taken a $1.8 billion hit from a $21 billion fire sale of its bond holdings.

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.

Sharon Stone received the Courage Award on Thursday night during the Women’s Cancer Research Fund’s (WCRF) An Unforgettable Evening fundraiser and offered some remarks that left her in tears. «I brought a couple of notes tonight,» said Stone. «I usually just speak off the cuff because, as you well know, I don’t give a s**t.»The 65-year-old actress stood behind the podium inside the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire ballroom and spoke to a crowd that included Rebel Wilson, Nia Vardalos, Rachel Zoe, Lisa Rinna, Harry Hamlin, Julianne Hough, Chord Overstreet, Maria Bello, Dominique Crenn, Lori Loughlin, Olivia Jade Giannulli, Paul Wesley, NJ Falk, and Kathy and Rick Hilton. Stone was presented with the trophy by gala chair Jamie Tisch who said, «What makes you a shining star, to me, is not just your talent, your beauty, and your grace but your resilience no matter what life throws your way.

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.

Ryan Gosling is set to portray Ken in the upcoming Barbie movie, but it sounds like he could have had some competition for the role from a pro – Chris Pine.

As expected, WGA members have voted overwhelmingly to approve a Pattern of Demands for the guild’s upcoming film and TV contract negotiations, which are set to begin March 20. The combined vote of the WGA West and the WGA East was 5,553 (98.4%) voting yes, and 90 (1.6%) voting no. The WGA’s current contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers expires May 1 amid growing concerns about a possible writers’ strike.

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.

Meredith Stiehm, president of the WGA West, talked tough about the guild’s upcoming negotiations with the AMPTP in her speech Sunday at the WGA Awards.

EXCLUSIVE: Abramorama and Giant Pictures have acquired North American rights to Nuclear Now, the latest documentary from 3x Academy Award winner Oliver Stone, which premiered (as Nuclear) at last year’s Venice Film Festival.  

The forthcoming HBO show The Idol is said to be “the sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood,” according to its very own promo push from late last summer. And considering its creators — Euphori

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.

The WGA has issued its Pattern of Demands ahead of its negotiations with the AMPTP.

The WGA’s historic victory in its epic legal battle to reshape the talent agency business is expected to pay “unprecedented” dividends in its upcoming film and TV contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers.

Rachel Brosnahan and Oscar Isaac are celebrating their new off-Broadway show!

Rebecca Lenkiewicz will be this year’s recipient of the WGA West’s Paul Selvin Award in recognition of her adapted screenplay for She Said, the Universal film about the New York Times reporters who broke the story that exposed disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein. The guild said Thursday that she will be honored at the WGA Awards’ Los Angeles ceremony March 5 at the Fairmont Century Plaza.