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EXCLUSIVE: The roller coaster ride of the Writers Guild and the Hollywood studios trying to seal a deal to end the writers’ nearly 5-month-long strike isn’t over yet.

The Writers Guild brass and studios CEOs were working tonight to close a deal to end the scribes’ strike , but it seems they aren’t quite there yet.

Billy Ray, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter, director and producer who has used his downtime during the Hollywood labor strife between shifts on the picket lines to turn Strike Talk into a tour de force that has demystified the issues and explained the inflection point that made this standoff unavoidable, this week strikes his most hopeful tone in the 21 podcasts he has done so far.

EXCLUSIVE: A second day of direct negotiations between the Writers Guild and studio CEOs has concluded this evening.

EXCLUSIVE: The Writers Guild and studios and streamers are set to meet again tomorrow for further talks on a new contract for scribes.

Broadcasting union Bectu has waded into the U.S. labor dispute with an open letter to the AMPTP, urging it to financially support UK crew who are “suffering hardship” and to “resume negotiations” with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA.

EXCLUSIVE: Amid growing speculation of internal divisions within the C-suites and a lack of any apparent path forward to end the writers and actors strikes, the chiefs of Hollywood’s biggest studios are set to gather today.

SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee said Sunday it “remains ready at a moment’s notice to go back to the bargaining table to secure a righteous deal” to end the actors’ strike, which is now in its 46th day. “Unfortunately, as we’ve seen from the recent news out of the WGA negotiations, it appears the AMPTP is still unwilling to make the concessions necessary to make a fair deal that would bring the strikes to a close.”

Coming out of the public relations week from hell, the studios and streamers are looking for the firm that fought off Pizzagate to help them in the war of words against the striking Writers Guild.

The Writers Guild said today that the AMPTP’s latest counteroffer for a new contract “is neither nothing, nor nearly enough.”

Just hours after the studios and streamers made public their latest “comprehensive package” towards a deal with the WGA, the guild has responded – and its seems the AMPTP and top CEOs may have strategically overplayed their hand.

WGA leaders met face-to-face with key CEOs on Tuesday evening as executives sought to pitch the guild on their most recent contract offer in the hopes of ending the nearly four-month-old strike. Late Tuesday, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers released details of the contract offer presented to the WGA on Aug. 11.

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Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America met Friday with the major studios for the first negotiating session since May, and received a new package of proposals. The WGA told members in an email that it would respond to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers next week.

After their first day of bargaining since the Writers Guild went on strike May 2, the AMPTP and the WGA have recessed their negotiations until next week after the companies made a counterproposal to guild’s proposals.

The WGA and the AMPTP have agreed to resume bargaining for a deal that could end the guild’s ongoing strike.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America will resume negotiations with the studios on Friday, the guild told members in an email. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is set to deliver a response to the guild’s proposals, the union said.

Editors note: One in a series of stories marking the 100th day of the WGA strike.

Trustees of the DGA Pension & Health Plans have approved a free major medical plan for participants who lose coverage because of the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Meeting for the first time in more than three months, the Writers Guild and the AMPTP on Friday failed to reach an agreement to resume contract negotiations. Their inability to agree on terms for returning to the bargaining table comes after their much anticipated meeting to discuss a possible resumption of talks.  

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass weighed in again on the writers and actors strikes that have shut down much of production in the region, telling the sides that she stands “ready to personally engage” to reach a resolution.

If you thought the Writers Guild of America was going to be playing nice heading into tomorrow’s meeting between WGA Chief Negotiator Ellen Stutzman and AMPTP boss Carol Lombardini – you really might want to think again.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America is continuing to downplay expectations for Friday’s meeting with the studios, and is telling members that it will not be pressured into accepting a bad deal. Ellen Stutzman, the WGA’s chief negotiator, is scheduled to meet Friday with the head of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. It will be the first formal meeting between the two sides since the writers went on strike on May 1.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery reported the Hollywood writers and actors’ ongoing work stoppage had brought the company savings in the “low$100 million range” during its Q2 earnings results call Thursday. “We’re in the business of storytelling.

News broadcasters aren’t on strike, but their SAG-AFTRA steering committee is standing behind the actors and performers who are. “The world is watching,” the committee said in a statement Wednesday, and urged a “quick and productive resolution to the strike.”

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Leaders of the Writers Guild of America expressed cautious optimism on Wednesday about a move to resume bargaining, but said they are still ready to stay on strike over the long haul. The head of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers called the WGA’s chief negotiator on Tuesday to set up a Friday meeting to discuss how to proceed.

In the wake of yesterday’s upbeat news that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the WGA are heading back for talks this Friday, SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland says that as far as actors go, it’s still crickets from the producers.

There’s movement!

Variety on Tuesday. That is the first communication between the two sides since May 1, when talks collapsed and the WGA voted to go on strike. The WGA informed its members of the outreach from AMPTP to Ellen Stutzman, the WGA’s chief negotiator, on Tuesday evening.

Fran Drescher boarded the bus and has landed at her first picket line on the first day of the actors strike.