Hollywood studios, writers near agreement to end strike, hope to finalize deal Thursday, sources say

Yay! fingers crossed.

Thank God!

I forgot they were striking.

I heard a radio news report while driving a couple hours ago that the only report is that they're meeting again tomorrow. I didn't know there might be further info from inside sources. This is great news if true. I hope so much an agreement is made this week.

I agree with this take that this is more of an ultimatum from the studios and the union will either have to take it or leave it. If they leave it, strike lasts probably until Award Season kicks off in late December.

Guess what did not happen

What about the actor's strike?

Ugh! R6

"Progress" is encouraging. Hopefully things are finally moving in the right direction and they'll all stay at the table.

They're meeting again today, with the bigwigs back in attendance. Writers are being urged to picket the studios in full force. Hopefully there will be some good news today.

[quote]The WGA is heading back to the bargaining table with the CEOs of Netflix, Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros Discovery on Friday.

[quote]“The WGA and AMPTP met for bargaining today and will meet again tomorrow,” said the guild in a message to members after a long session Thursday night. Executives Ted Sarandos, Bob Iger, Donna Langley and David Zaslav are all anticipated to be in attendance Friday, along with AMPTP president Carol Lombardini and a praetorian guard of lawyers. On the other side, WGA chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman, along with David Goodman and Chris Keyser, will also be in the room at the AMPTP’s Sherman Oaks offices.

[quote]“Your Negotiating Committee appreciates all the messages of solidarity and support we have received the last few days, and ask as many of you as possible to come out to the picket lines tomorrow,” the WGA wrote to members in a call for a show of strength in front of studio lots and offices in L.A. and New York on Friday.

[quote]The WGA’s missive came soon after news broke that the guild, the AMPTP and the CEO Gang of Four were unable to close a deal to end the soon-to-be 144-day writers strike. With the industry essentially shut down for almost five months, almost no one working, and the greater Los Angeles County facing an estimated economic hit of up to $5 billion, there were high hopes an agreement was in the offering tonight — especially with the CEOs in the room and engaged.

[quote]Rumors had been picking up steam all day that a deal was close after a second solid day of deliberations. When tonight’s bargaining session suddenly went longer than expected, that hearsay became a hurricane as agents, execs, showrunners and other began optimistically texting and DM’ing one another. Of course, a deal proved not to be in the cards – which leaves the writers still on strike.

[quote]After today’s roller-coaster ride and the disappointment of tonight, enthusiasm about whether Friday’s negotiating session will be more successful may be harder to come by.

They are still rescinding renewal orders. It’s not happening soon. Remember they JUST stopped paying on overall deals last week. They wouldn’t have done that if they anticipated a quick resolution. They’re saving money.

So what are they holding out for?

My opinion: January 23, 2024

The Oscar nominations are announced.

They absolutely cannot fuck with the Academy Awards. They will hold the line as long as possible, until it becomes a problem with the Oscar logistics and the potential of postponing the ceremony (March 10).

I imagine that logistics planning will probably start in December, so I think a December resolution is likely with the absolute limit being the first few weeks of January.

If I don't start getting a regular dose of Bill Maher and his anti-woke "humor," I may have to kill myself.

I'm hoping for a resolution because I know a few people being affected by the strike and I want them all to be okay, so I hope your timeline won't be what ends up happening, R11. Your reasoning is convincing (unfortunately), but I'll hold out hope.

Who cares.

The other date you want to look at is October 20, when Killers of the Flower Moon is released theatrically. This is the first major star-heavy production of the important prestige season (and one of only a handful Star-centric theatrical releases left this year) and the studios will want to see how it does without actor promotion. If the studios discover that they can still open a film without committing to millions of dollars of in person promotion appearances, they are going to use it against the actors.

Almost everything else being released by a studio this fall is IP driven sequels or remakes with built in audiences (Equalizer 3, Exorcist, the Marvels, Hunger Games, Aquaman, Wonka.). Wonka probably would depend the most on actor promotion but if it turns out to be the turkey it looks like, it may be expendable. Dune 2 was not expendable which is why it was moved (and that was moved because of Zendaya, not Chalamet.)

R15: KOTFW being released on IMAX is a sign of confidence and clearly DiCaprio and Scorsese are hoping for an Oppenheimer like weekend.

Because IMAX has no other movies! It’s a sign of desperation not confidence.

KOTFM is three and a half hours and almost all reviews criticize it for being plodding, that’s not going to get keep them in their seats like Oppenheimer.

Maybe if Scorcese shaved an hour off it, it would do well commercially.

Paramount moves made for Paramount+ Mean Girls movie to theatrical as theaters facing empty screens

It seems to me that they are expecting maybe another movie release may be postponed? Given the Jan 12 date, it may be Warner’s Christmas Day release of The Color Purple.

Warners may not want to push another female centric film at awards season given the likelihood of Barbie now being an awards contender

Oh just realized that the new mean girls movie is an adaptation of the stage musical

That means Warner will definitely be scuttling The Color Purple’s Christmas Day release

Two female-centric musicals which are both remakes of movies could never compete with each other at the box office

Sounds like negotiations will continue over the weekend. A good sign!

[quote]The Writers Guild brass and studios CEOs were working Friday night to close a deal to end the scribes’ strike, but it seems they aren’t quite there yet.

[quote]Running from around 11 a.m. to 8:45 p.m., the third day of direct talks between the WGA negotiating committee and the heads of Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery has ended without a tentative agreement for a new three-year contract. While the two sides were able to find accord on a number of issues, a solution acceptable to all on matters like AI and writers rooms’ minimum staffing levels has eluded the negotiators so far, we hear.

[quote]However, while nothing is etched in stone, it does appear Bob Iger, Donna Langley, Ted Sarandos and David Zaslav and the other principals are open to reconvening at some point over the weekend. In fact, the CEO Gang of Four, AMPTP chief Carol Lombardini and the WGA’s Ellen Stutzman, David Goodman and Chris Keyser could sit down again as soon as Saturday, it seems.

More like "decision to end planned organized tantrum in time to still have a late-starting but unmissed fall season, and dudes hurry up because we can't go another month without our manicures, hair frosts or Pilates classes"!

This is just the writers in negotiations. SAG is still on strike.

If the writers strike is settled the SAG negotiations should move pretty fast because of the breakthroughs the writers are making.

Fingers crossed!

This language isn’t promising

WGA Reviewing Deal That Studios Call Their “Best & Final Offer” – Update

Deadline comment: When deadline writes, “it appears the final sticking points are surrounding AI and staffing levels in writers room”, I get concerned since are those not the only issues that have held up a deal for 150+ days?

It doesn’t sound like they’ve gotten anything resolved!

I thought Deadline's 6 PM update last night sounded very promising. Hopefully today will bring good news...

[quote]With deliberations starting around 10 a.m. as Ellen Stutzman led the WGA negotiating committee and AMPTP’s Carol Lombardini on the other side of the table, today was always going to be about final details, sources say. To that end, lawyers took center stage for the most part to translate their employers’ deal points into formal language.

[quote]“The intention was always to wrap this up by the weekend,” an insider tells us. “That was the desire on both sides of the table.”

[quote]Despite gripes in the room over press leaks, and last-minute asks by the WGA on Thursday night, several sources inform us that talks have not been contentious, and have just kept moving. One person with knowledge of the situation equated Thursday to “an ant rolling a boulder up the hill.”

[quote]We have yet to hear the exact terms as to when writers can put pen to scripts for the studios, and producers can start sending out specs to agents. On the mind of many is getting the new TV season underway.

Deadline is owned by Penske media, Penske owns all the trades, the trades depend on studio advertising for revenue. Deadline is always going to push the studio narrative.

Writers Guild Reaches Tentative Agreement With Studios and Streamers, Union Says

[quote] Now, it’s up to the WGA’s members to determine whether the deal satisfies the workplace issues that their peers have been raising for months. All eyes are on the union’s ratification vote for the deal, whose date has not yet been announced.

As the WGA goes, so go the actors.

Yay...I'm so glad for everyone! Great news.

The Hollywood strike doesn't matter

R15: I think the nearly three year wait for Dune 2 will cause some people to lose interest. It will do fine but I don’t think it will make considerably more money than the first movie.

Zendaya wanted Dune 2 moved to March?

The studio needs Zendaya to be able to promote the movie on her social media.

She has 185 million Instagram followers.

Her other film was moved to next year.