On day 144 of the writers strike — a week and a half shy of becoming the longest in Writers Guild of America history — there was a renewed sense of optimism on the jam-packed picket lines Friday as guild members heeded their union’s call to hit the pavement as negotiations with studio CEOs and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers entered their third consecutive day.
At Disney, more than a thousand members of the WGA and performers union SAG-AFTRA walked the woodsy Burbank grounds where many scribes expressed cautious optimism that a deal to end the work stoppage could be imminent following two days of progress at the bargaining table.
“I always feel good when they’re talking … the fact that they’ve been talking for three days straight is terrific,” said veteran showrunner Marc Guggenheim (Legends of Tomorrow).
Following a nearly month-long stalemate, the WGA and AMPTP returned to the bargaining table Wednesday alongside Disney CEO Bob Iger, Universal content chief Donna Langley, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav all in attendance. Both sides issued a rare joint statement Wednesday that illustrated some progress had been made. As of Thursday evening, multiple studio-side sources said progress had been made in areas including AI protections, minimum room size and streaming data transparency but there was still more ground to cover.
Thursday’s bargaining session, which ran from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., ended with the WGA presenting new demands, according to studio-side sources, which alienated the executives. Still, the four execs returned Friday at 11 a.m. as optimism around Hollywood and on the picket lines remained that both sides were the closest they’ve been to a new three-year deal since the strike began in May.
“They always say this is a town that kills you with hope and what’s happening over the last three days is a perfect example of that,” Guggenheim said. “In Hollywood, hope is the mind killer. I’m trying hard not to count my chickens before they’re hatched. I went to bed feeling really optimistic last night. I woke up feeling really optimistic and I’m walking the picket line today feeling, I can’t believe I’m saying it, optimistic.”
Disney, along with other Los Angeles picketing sites including Netflix, Amazon, Sony and Warner Bros., were remaining open an extra two hours Friday after guild leaders encouraged members to pound the pavement in a missive sent out late Thursday.
“Seeing pics of the lines today is EVERYTHING,” the WGA’s chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman posted Friday afternoon.
A few miles away at Warner Bros. Discovery, actress Treisa Gary (Physical) sat near a gate whirling instruments on a series of sound bowls laid out in front of her. She was generating healing and calmness, or trying to, at least. There, writer Steven Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter that he placed a bottle of champagne in his refrigerator Thursday night as he was overcome with feelings of hope that an end to the near-historic WGA strike would happen soon.
“If you told me when we started it would be five months, I would have been terrified and not necessarily excited to sign up for that. But now that we’ve gone this far, and it seems like there’s some hope and optimism, I’m proud. I was coming here this morning, and I almost got emotional that we made it to this point,” he said. “I have a friend who is a writer for Drew Barrymore and that whole scenario was very inspirational to me. To watch them stand up … and really win … that’s been invigorating.” (The Drew Barrymore Show backed off returning to production after sustained criticism and demonstrations.)
The scene at Radford in Studio City was bristling with more than 300 scribes and a DJ as headphones were distributed for a “silent disco”-themed picket.
The general mood, according to several writers at Fox on the west side of L.A., was equally optimistic that a deal could be hammered out. Many members, who declined to provide their names, said they felt “hopeful” that Friday would be the last day of the writers strike.
Emily Whitesell (Siren) said she felt supported by the guild and “empowered” to be walking the picket line again with such a great turnout. “Morale is really good. We’re feeling confident in our negotiating board and we’re behind them — that’s why we came out today, to show them our support,” Whitesell said.
Back at Disney, there was a last day of school vibe as WGA volunteers said some members opted to take picket signs home. Others, meanwhile, snapped photos with helpful lot coordinators and strike captains. Still to be determined, however, is if the WGA will continue to picket in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA when and if a deal is reached with the AMPTP.
“There’s a question of whether or not we can get, as part of our deal, the legal ability to honor SAG’s picket lines,” Guggenheim, a former attorney, told THR. “There’s nothing being shot right now so it’s not like writers need to cross the picket lines in order to do their jobs. Even with productions still going on, there’s Zoom … I can see a ton of writers using their free time to be out here with SAG the way they were out here for us.”
Borys Kit and Tiffany Taylor contributed reporting.
