LOS ANGELES — With negotiations stalled, negotiators for the striking Writers Guild of America suggested on Friday, Sept. 8, that they could more easily reach new contracts with individual Hollywood studios if they broke ranks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that is leading labor talks for the industry.
In a message to WGA members, the union’s negotiating team noted that traditional studios have “disparate business models and interests” compared to streaming companies such as Netflix. But since studios and streamers are both relying on the AMPTP to lead the negotiations, it “allows hard liners to dictate the course of action for all the companies.”
“The AMPTP purports to represent all of these disparate corporate interests, but in practice administers a system that favors inflexibility over compromise, and sacrifices the interests of individual companies in reaching a deal. That regression to the hardest line has produced the first simultaneous strikes since 1960,” negotiators wrote, referring to the companion strike by the SAG-AFTRA actors’ union.
WGA negotiators said they have had conversations with individual executives from traditional studios who have expressed a willingness to negotiate terms and even meet some union demands. But since the AMPTP also represents streamers, which are competitors to studios, and negotiates on behalf of all the companies together, there has been no interest by the alliance to budge on some union proposals.
“So, while the intransigence of the AMPTP structure is impeding progress, these behind-the-scenes conversations demonstrate there is a fair deal to be made that addresses our issues,” according to the WGA negotiating team. “… We have made it clear that we will negotiate with one or more of the major studios, outside the confines of the AMPTP, to establish the new WGA deal. There is no requirement that the companies negotiate through the AMPTP. So, if the economic…
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