The Writers Guild and the AMPTP headed back to the negotiating table today, and they are currently joined by top CEOs from the AMPTP member companies.
Disney’s Bob Iger, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav are all present at AMPTP headquarters for the meeting that started at 10 a.m. PT on Wednesday, IndieWire has confirmed. With the strike nearing the longest in the guild’s history, it’s pushed the studio CEOs to be more hands-on in negotiations and suggests greater urgency in this latest round of talks.
The CEOs did a prep Zoom call ahead of the meeting and have also cleared their schedules in preparation for what could be a long night, although that depends on talks going well.
The last time the studio CEOs met with WGA leadership, things didn’t go so well. The WGA previously disclosed that Iger, Langley, Sarandos, and Zaslav all met with the negotiating committee on August 22. Several sources IndieWire has previously spoken with suggested that if the studio CEOs went to meet directly with WGA leadership, they did so with the expectation that a deal would get done.
That didn’t happen. Instead, the AMPTP publicly released the details of its proposal made on Aug. 11, prompting the WGA to say that it was riddled with loopholes and was simply “not good enough,” as well as say they were met with a lecture by the CEOs about how significant the offer was. That stalemate lasted for weeks, but finally ended today.
The WGA recently told members that with talks resuming to expect not to hear from them for some time while negotiations are taking place. The AMPTP has said that it is committed to finding a resolution to end the strikes.
THR first reported the news. The WGA and the AMPTP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
