For Hollywood, it’s still black smoke. This is a confrontation between Hollywood producers and bright screenwriters and actors. The first meeting of the parties – the writers’ union of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Producers Alliance (AMPTP), bringing together traditional majors and streaming platforms – three months after the last is not served to unblock the situation and resume negotiations, according to the American press. The long-awaited meeting, held on Friday in Los Angeles, came to a standstill. In the meantime, in July, actors joined the strike with their trade union Sag-Aftra.
On the one hand, the union of writers and writers indicated that they would not bow toI agree it’s disappointingOn the other hand, manufacturers have defined platform of proposals from trade unions is unacceptable. No official comments have yet been received from the parties after the meeting, but informed sources say that a new meeting will take place in the coming days. The atmosphere of yesterday’s meeting was described as “tough” but not so tense as to make it impossible to resume talks in the short term.
Many hoped that the resumption of negotiations could take place as early as Friday. But the meeting fixed an insurmountable gap between the parties on major issues: the union’s demand for a minimum staffing and minimum working day for serial production. The authors also want to include safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence, which they fear could cause their work to disappear. And they cite the fact that in recent days, Netflix has posted an ad for an AI expert, offering a $900,000 fee (many actors are underpaid, so much so that they can’t reach the medical care threshold). ).
Before the meeting, the writers guild informed its members that they would never accept a bad deal. The reaction of the producers was not long in coming, emphasizing that their only goal is to “get people back to work.” Karen Bass, mayor of Los Angeles, also intervened and demanded an “immediate” resolution of the dispute, highlighting the economic damage already suffered by the city, where the number of citizens employed in the audiovisual production sector and related industries is huge. Meanwhile, a growing number of stars are lining up with their striking colleagues, donating dizzying sums to a fund supporting the protest. The fund has already raised $15 million. Tdonors Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez and husband Ben Affleck, Meryl Streep, Blake Lively, Dwayne Johnson, Matt Damon, Hugh Jackman, Oprah Winfrey, Arnold Schwarzenegger and others