West Coast chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman speaks as the Teamsters Union members join members of the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild on strike outside Amazon Studios in Culver City, California, on July 19, 2023. AFP via Getty Images The Writers Guild of America made a surprise deal with the major studios on Saturday night, and by Easter morning, scribes and agents were weighing in to Page Six Hollywood on the news — between any egg hunts — though some still had to read the fine print.
“Someone do a spreadsheet on the immediate aftermath of their strikes on the effects on production, employment and salary in the guild,” said one lit agent who reps high-end WGA members. “I guarantee it’s gone down and they reduced the size of the pie. I am ecstatic that sanity seems to have prevailed, and they are not going to drive this industry further off a cliff.”
Another A-list writer told us: “The leadership recognized the state of the industry and the needs of the writers and delivered on what was possible. If it isn’t a huge win, at least it isn’t a loss.” While a different top TV scribe with a number of projects in play said they’d been cautiously optimistic the strike could be averted, and were relieved the deal was wrapped, though they had yet to review the fine print.
“For too long, the discourse in our industry has been about the impending doom from ‘disruption’ and ‘dismantling,’” said another WGA member, Patrick Moss. “Let’s hope this deal, and the mature way in which it seems to have come together, signals a shift towards building stability and collaboration — to creating great work and putting more writers and artists back to work.”
Not everyone was impressed. Details are still making out to members who have to ratify the agreement in the coming weeks. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) got one key concession: The length of the deal — four years, one longer than in previous cycles. That allows the writers to increase the funding amount from the studios for their health plans (which had been running on a deficit for years) in exchange for longer labor peace.
“They will announce this as a giant victory, despite all evidence to the contrary: less writers working, LA falling apart, their own employees striking, the commission stack rising, their leadership being underemployed people, etc,” said another agent who reps dozens of WGA writers. “The sheep in the union just cheer them on from the bottom ranks. And the top ranks just don’t get involved because they don’t work at scale. So, besides a strike, these issues don’t impact them.”
Up next, the AMPTP has two choices. It could take a well-earned break before its talks with the director’s guild begin next month, or return to the bargaining table with the actors and finish out their new deal (they are set to return to bargain in June).
We’re told there was a lot of progress with the actors during their first round, and the only thing that prevented them from getting a deal done was the calendar.
Either way, the WGA deal was an encouraging vibe check. Both sides drastically toned down the fiery rhetoric (partially due to the new leadership the leading talks, including on the studio side). And the writers, by far the most aggressive union during the 2023 twin labor strikes, were first across the finish line with nearly a month left on the clock before their deal ran out.
The surprise deal is also a strong start for Greg Hessinger, the studios’ new top negotiator. Under Hessinger, the AMPTP (which handles talks for the major studios and streamers) has taken a more open, softer stance. Before this year’s labor talks started with the actors union in February, a studio side source told P6H that being more transparent about its positions was a goal and expressed optimism that all sides “would like to avoid a repeat” of the 2023 disaster.
