The Writers Guild of America negotiators expressed their dissatisfaction with the Hollywood studios’ latest contract offer, referring to it as “neither nothing, nor nearly enough.” They emphasized the need for more comprehensive improvements in contract terms and vowed to continue advocating for these changes.
In response to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ contract offer, which was made public this week, the WGA negotiating committee urged union members to remain strong and unified. They discouraged any divisions that the AMPTP’s release might have caused.
To further emphasize their discontent, WGA negotiators provided an overview of some of the AMPTP’s proposals. Although the offer included certain salary boosts and minimum writing staff size guarantees for television, the union found these measures to be insufficient. They highlighted loopholes, limitations, and omissions that rendered these proposals ineffective.
The studios did make concessions regarding the use of artificial intelligence and streaming viewership data. However, the WGA negotiators stressed that there is still room for improvement in these areas. They specifically pointed out the studios’ refusal to regulate the use of their work to train AI for creating new content in films.
While the AMPTP offered to allow six WGA staff members to study limited streaming viewership data for the next three years, the union noted that a viewership-based compensation package would have to wait until the next round of negotiations. This means writers would not have access to data about their project’s performance or receive residuals based on that data during this time.
The WGA negotiators labeled the companies’ counteroffer as “neither nothing, nor nearly enough.” They pledged to continue advocating for proposals that fully address their concerns, rather than accepting half-measures. To support their stance, they circulated a chart illustrating the cost summaries of each studio, which amounted to fractions of a percent of the studios’ annual revenues.
The message sent to WGA members emphasized the union’s commitment to direct negotiations with the companies. They believed that engaging in direct negotiations was the most effective way to reach a deal and end the strike, benefiting both the industry and the companies.
During the negotiations on Tuesday, the WGA negotiators met with representatives of the AMPTP and top executives from Disney, Warner Bros./Discovery, Universal, and Netflix. However, instead of a collaborative discussion, the union officials felt that they were met with a lecture about the AMPTP’s counteroffer.
The AMPTP released a statement asserting their focus on resolving the strike and highlighting the benefits of their counteroffer to union proposals. They claimed that their offer acknowledged the importance of writers in the industry and demonstrated their commitment to ending the strike.
The AMPTP stated that their offer included the largest pay increase for the WGA in 35 years, with raises of 5% in the first year and 4% and 3.5% in the subsequent years. In contrast, the WGA had sought a 6% increase in the first year and 5% increases in the following two years.
The studio offer also included increased authority for showrunners in determining writing room staffing and extensive protections for writers against the use of artificial intelligence. Additionally, it featured increases in residuals for streaming programs, along with a promise to provide streaming viewership numbers, which the union aimed to link to compensation.
AMPTP President Carol Lombardini emphasized the priority of ending the strike to allow the creative community to resume their work and alleviate the hardships faced by various industry personnel and businesses.
The strike initiated by the WGA on May 2 led to SAG-AFTRA actors joining them on the picket lines, effectively halting all production. The studios have called for similar terms to be agreed upon by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, which the Directors Guild of America has already approved. These terms include a salary increase of approximately 12.5% and a 21% increase in streaming residuals, along with guarantees that artificial intelligence will not replace human roles.
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