Summary:
- Negotiations continue between Hollywood writers and studios.
- Studios expected to offer first counter proposal.
- Writer strike surpasses 100-day mark, dialogue ongoing.
- Sticking points include minimum staffing, AI protections, pay, benefits.
- Actors and writers express concern over external factors prolonging strike.
- Optimism remains for resolution as negotiations progress.
- Studio CEOs' involvement unclear in moving negotiations forward.
- Hopes for return to work as industry faces prolonged emptiness.
The Hollywood writers and studios. No one seems to know how this drama is going to end. KKL News reporter Tom Wade is here with the latest on the negotiations.
Every day our hopes get really high and it's like, ah, no worries. I know, exactly. That pretty much sums it up. We're seeing and hearing varying reports, some progress, but also major challenges remain in breaking the stalemate, bottom line. Talks do continue and now the studios are expected to offer their first counter proposal since the strike began. I don't know. I'm sort of conditioning myself against having too much hope. Actor Noah Wiley on the newly restarted negotiations between the Hollywood writers and the studios. Tuesday the writers guild sent their first counter proposal since the strike began. I like that the fact that they're talking. It must have been a substantive counter. Otherwise it wouldn't be at the table. So that's reason to have hope. The writer strike is now longer than the last one in 2008, pushing past the 100 day mark last week. Talks restarted last Friday and for now it appears the dialogue continues. They're still pretty far apart. It sounds like and I think some folks who had been hopeful that oh, maybe we'll get a deal because the studios offer is so great. Are less hopeful now just because the WGA is still sticking to where it where it started. Basically, you know, maybe a little tweak here and there, but still basically sticking to its guns. So, you know, not as much progress as people were hoping for. Actors and writers say there is another issue that may be prolonging the strikes in the old days. We made a deal because our kids went to the same schools and we ate in the same restaurants and we were going to see each other work on Monday. Now they don't go to our schools. They don't eat in our restaurants. They're in Silicon Valley or New York or anywhere but here expecting a 20% return on an investment in a very speculative market. For the writers, the sticking points have not changed. Minimum staffing for writers rooms, protections from AI, higher pay for residuals and better health and pension benefits. For the actors, it's almost the same. Matthew Wiener is the creator of Mad Men and was a writer and executive producer on the Sopranos. I will call myself an artist and say that people need this and they respond to it and in the end there's money in it. It's one of the things that even in inflation people are willing to pay for and they are squandering it and abusing it. I'm hoping that this, you know, I'm ready to go back to work. I have been in collaboration many times with people in these businesses. They're not banks to me. They actually are valuable, you know, channels. And it's just, I'm optimistic that as this moves in that it will get a little quieter so that we can go back to work because they really need to save face at this point. Variety reports studio CEOs have been taking a more hands-on approach in the negotiations but it's not clear if that's helped move the two sides closer together. We'll see you another day. We're ready for them to go back to work. That's right, of course. We all want to see it. We've talked about this before. We work on this lot. It's so empty. It's sad. You want to see people back working. That's right. Okay, hopefully soon. Thanks, Tom.
Thanks, Tom.