The standoff between Hollywood studios and striking writers was intensifying on Wednesday, one day after a meeting between union negotiators and studio heads failed to result in any movement toward a labor contract, and the union accusing studios of attempting to sow discontent among writers.
According to a message sent late Tuesday to Writers Guild of America members by the union’s negotiating team, union leaders met with representatives of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and executives including Disney CEO Bob Iger, Warner Bros./Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Universal Chairwoman Donna Langley and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos.
Union officials said they attended the meeting “in hopes that the companies were serious about getting the industry back to work,” but they were instead “met with a lecture about how good their single and only counteroffer was.”
“But this wasn’t a meeting to make a deal. This was a meeting to get us to cave, which is why, not 20 minutes after we left the meeting, the AMPTP released its summary of their proposals,” according to the WGA message to members. “This was the companies’ plan from the beginning — not to bargain, but to jam us. It is their only strategy — to bet that we will turn on each other.”
AMPTP officials released a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Variety and other select outlets Tuesday professing to be focused on resolving the strike and touting the benefits of the alliance’s counter-offer to union proposals.
“The offer recognizes the foundational role writers play in the industry and underscores the companies’ commitment to ending the strike,” according to the statement from AMPTP, which bargains on behalf of the major studios and streamers.
According to the AMPTP, the studios’ offer includes the largest pay bump for the WGA in 35 years, with an increase of 5% in the first year, along with bumps of 4% and 3.5% in the following two years.
The WGA had sought a 6%…
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