The union also revealed that in private conversations with legacy studio executives, some have expressed openness to accommodating the guild’s positions on various issues. But, the guild argued that the AMPTP as a group is trapped in a system that “favors inflexibility over compromise,” forcing all members to take a hard line.
“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,” the union said. “On every single issue we are asking for we have had at least one legacy studio executive tell us they could accommodate us.” In the 130 days since the WGA strike began, the AMPTP has only offered one proposal to the WGA, on August 11th. Since then, the companies have not moved off that proposal even though the WGA in turn presented our own counterproposal to the AMPTP on August 15th. The current standstill is not a sign of the companies’ power, but of AMPTP paralysis.
So, while the intransigence of the AMPTP structure is impeding progress, these behind-the-scenes conversations demonstrate there is a fair deal to be made that addresses our issues. Given the outsized economic impact of the strikes on the legacy companies, their individual studio interest in making a deal isn’t surprising. Warner Bros. confirmed this in a public financial filing just this week.
The companies know the truth: they must negotiate if they want to end the strike. They may not like it—they may try to obscure it—but they know it. While they wrestle with that fact and with each other, they will continue attempting to get writers to settle for less than what we need and deserve, and encourage us to negotiate with ourselves. But we are not going to do that.