WGA Tells Members That Several Companies Have Privately Expressed “Desire & Willingness” To Negotiate A Deal To End Writers Strike

deadline.com:

The Writers Guild told its members Friday that despite the united front the streamers and studios have shown in public during the guild’s 130-day strike, several of the legacy companies privately have expressed “both the desire and willingness to negotiate an agreement that adequately addresses writers’ issues.” One studio executive even told the guild that “they needed a deal badly,” the WGA said. “One executive said they had reviewed our proposals, and though they did not commit to a specific deal, said our proposals would not affect their company’s bottom line and that they recognized they must give more than usual to settle this negotiation,” the guild’s negotiating committee said in its latest update. “Another said they needed a deal badly.

Those same executives – and others – have said they are willing to negotiate on proposals that the AMPTP has presented to the public as deal breakers.

On every single issue we are asking for we have had at least one legacy studio executive tell us they could accommodate us.” And while this doesn’t break the deadlock, further behind-the-scenes discussion could lead to a breakthrough if any of the companies decide to break away from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and negotiate a separate deal with the WGA.

Here’s the guild’s latest communique in full: “We know that people are anxious for information about the status of the negotiation – and how difficult it can be to stay strong during periods of silence – which is only exacerbated by the companies’ recent attempts to make an end run around the Negotiating Committee and confuse the narrative.