It has now been a couple of months since the Writers’ Guild of America declared they were on strike. It dealt a big blow to the industry as the procedure of current productions had to navigate certain obstacles. Then, a few weeks later, the Screen Actors Guild would administer their own strike and productions shut down completely. Many fear that the state of this strike and the issues surrounding it may prolong the stalemate and become bitter. Hopefully, a ray of light is about to shine on the situation as The Hollywood Reporter reveals that the WGA is slated to meet with the movie and streaming studios this Friday to begin talks.
The WGA negotiating committee has commented in a statement on Tuesday, “The AMPTP, through Carol Lombardini, reached out to the WGA today and requested a meeting this Friday to discuss negotiations. We’ll be back in communication with you sometime after the meeting with further information. As we’ve said before, be wary of rumors. Whenever there is important news to share, you will hear it directly from us.” This will signify the first time both parties have met ever since the strike started on May 1. A spokesperson for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers stated, “We remain committed to finding a path to mutually beneficial deals with both unions.”
The location of the meeting had not been disclosed. The AMPTP is showing their willingness to cooperate but emphasized that the AI issue “requires a lot more discussion, which we’ve committed to doing.” The group also called the minimum staff proposal “a hiring quota that is incompatible with the creative nature of our industry.” They have additionally taken umbrage to the claims that the Hollywood companies “created a gig economy inside a union workforce.”
The AI issue has been heating up as of late as the technology proceeds to get frighteningly more effective while it is still in its infancy. Programs like ChatGPT have been the talk of pop culture recently due to automated writing starting to resemble more coherence that can possibly be parlayed into false creativity. Disney was also reportedly in the market for people to fill positions of AI specialties amid the strikes.