Leaders of the Writers Guild of America were continuing today to mull over proposals offered by Hollywood studios ahead of another negotiating session, but union members were still picketing, including a march outside the “Jeopardy!” studio in Culver City.
According to the WGA, writers and “past contestants” were taking part in the Culver City picket to protest the game show “which began filming today with recycled questions.”
A report by the online entertainment news site Polygon earlier this month indicated that the show invited some previous contestants to take part in a “Second Chance” tournament. At least one of those contestants told Polygon that while the offer was an long-awaited opportunity, it would also force them to cross the WGA picket line.
According to Polygon, “Jeopardy!” showrunner Michael Davies said on a recent podcast that the show plans to use “a combination of material that our WGA writers wrote before the strike, which is still in the database, and material that is being redeployed from multiple, multiple seasons of the show.”
It was unclear when WGA negotiators plan to meet again with leaders of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — which represents Hollywood studios in the labor talks. The WGA has been striking since May 2, and the two sides met last Friday for their first negotiating session since the walkout began.
After that meeting, WGA negotiators told union members that the studios had provided counterproposals to some of the union’s demands, although no details were released. Bloomberg reported Monday that the studios’ offer included an agreement that only humans would be credited as writers on screenplays, not artificial intelligence bots — a move toward a union effort to ensure AI does not undercut writers’ compensation or credit.
According to Bloomberg, the studios also offered to share more detailed viewership information for streaming programs, such as the number of…
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