SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers agreed Friday to extend their current film and TV contract until July 12 to allow bargaining on a new deal to continue, both sides said this evening. The current contract had been set to expire tonight at midnight PT, after which it would have likely meant a second major Hollywood guild would be on strike against the studios. “The agreements, which were set Friday at 11:59 p.m. PT, will now expire on July 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT,” SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP said in a joint statement.
As streamers face mounting pressure to save money, several are dropping shows. Erasing original shows can help streamers get tax write-downs and, to a smaller extent, save on residual payments. But it brings criticism that they are sidelining already marginalized voices and shortchanging creatives. These issues have increased tension between executives and writers amid union contract negotiations that started in March and could lead to a significant work stoppage.
The guild, which is currently at the table with studios and streamers over this issue and others, said Wednesday that artificial intelligence “has no role in guild-covered work, nor in the chain of title in the intellectual property.”
The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers exchanged proposals on Monday, as they prepare for face-to-face bargaining next week. Last week, the guild membership voted 98.4% in favor of the “pattern of demands,” a high-level summary of the guild’s top issues for a new basic agreement. The items include addressing “the abuses of mini-rooms” and increasing streaming residuals, among a dozen other issues. The proposals are far more detailed, and are not expected to be made public so as to preserve the confidentiality of negotiations.
The Writers Guild of America will begin negotiations on a new contract on March 20, as the industry holds its breath in anticipation of a possible strike. The current three-year agreement is set to expire on May 1. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced the date of the talks, making the WGA the first of the three above-the-line guilds to enter bargaining.
Exclusives
With their commercials contracts set to expire Thursday night, SAG-AFTRA and the advertising industry’s Joint Policy Committee agreed to extend them on a day-to-day basis to allow negotiations to continue. “During this time,” the union said, “all terms and conditions of the 2019 Commercials Contracts — including all waivers and provisions that might otherwise sunset — are extended. The parties will continue to negotiate, remaining under a media blackout.” The negotiations, which got underway Feb. 16 in New York, cover numerous contracts that generate about $1 billion a year in earnings for the union’s members.
WNYW Staffers Continue Contract Negotiations
There is no agreement yet in the contract negotiations between the original cast of The Big Bang Theory and Warner Bros TV, leading to the studio’s decision to push the production start date for Season 8, originally slated for today.
Negotiations will begin Feb. 14, well in advance of contract expiration at the end of March. A significant issue for the union is expected to be increasing employer contributions to the union pension and health plans.
Sources say that the ensemble cast has rejected a Monday offer from producer 20th Century Fox Television, requiring the cancellation of today’s scheduled table read.
A new deal would keep Letterman on the air long enough to top Johnny Carson’s 30-year streak as the longest-running late-night star in TV history.
Hollywood’s film and TV writers will begin negotiations with the major studios on a new film and TV contract this week. The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced in a joint statement that talks on a new three-year contract would begin Thursday. The guild’s current contract expires May 1.
The management of noncommercial WGBH Boston said yesterday that it has presented its last proposal for a new agreement with its largest union, halting contract talks that began in August. The station and the Association of Employees of the Educational Foundation have been seeking a new three-year contract to replace an agreement that expired at the end of October. WGBH employs 850 people; Local 1300 represents 280 writers, editors, production workers, and marketing employees.
Both CBS and Katie Couric appear open to a new deal that would keep her at the network’s news division beyond her current five-year deal as anchor of the CBS Evening News, which expires at the end of May. Wall Street Journal subscribers can read the story here.
CBS Corp. began talks on a new contract for Katie Couric, looking to cut the evening news anchor’s $15 million salary and possibly expand her role amid falling viewership, people with knowledge of the situation said.
