After completing their negotiations on Friday, leading Hollywood companies and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are set to reconvene the following week following the studios' latest counteroffer to the union.
In a message addressed to its members on Friday night, the WGA negotiating committee confirmed that the studios had responded to their proposals across all work areas the previous Friday, August 11. The committee stated that they met throughout the week and plan to continue discussions in the upcoming week.
The committee, co-chaired by Chris Keyser and David Goodman, expressed gratitude for the "messages of support and solidarity" from their members and cautioned them against "rumors from third parties," assuring members that the Guild would communicate any significant updates.
Before their meeting on Friday, both parties had gathered on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for negotiations. According to a studio-side source, on Friday, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) responded to the WGA's most recent counteroffer, shifting the focus back to the WGA's response. (THR reached out to the WGA for comment.) On the same day, top company CEOs convened in the morning to discuss the progress of the discussions, although no further details were available at the time of this report.
Sources from the management side have expressed optimism, indicating that talks are making progress, but a breakthrough has not yet been reached. Meanwhile, the union has been relatively quiet apart from Friday's message. One executive noted, "Everyone is trying to step up and make a resolution," adding that there is more positive momentum this week compared to the previous one.
The WGA provided an update to its members on the 109th day of the 2023 writers' strike, which is now nine days longer than the union's last strike in 2007-08. That earlier strike had significant economic implications, costing the California economy an estimated $2.1 billion. The current strike, coupled with a strike called by SAG-AFTRA in July, has brought scripted U.S. production to a standstill, causing delays in release dates for certain projects and interrupting promotional activities for upcoming projects.