Hollywood studios offer writers a new deal with push from Netflix, Disney to end strike
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Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild members picket in front of Netflix Headquarters, on Aug 14, 2023.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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Los Angeles – Hollywood studios have made a new offer to striking screenwriters
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents big media companies such as Warner Bros, Discovery and Paramount Global, has agreed to ensure humans are credited as writers of screenplays, rather than replacing them with artificial intelligence.
The companies will also share data on the number of hours viewed on streaming services, so writers can see how popular their programmes are, according to the people, who asked not to be identified.
Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos has emerged as a strong force seeking to reach a deal with the writers, according to the sources. More recently, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has joined him in pressing for an agreement.
The Writers Guild of America, which represents some 11,500 scribes nationally, went on strike on May 2
The strike, coupled with one by screen actors that began in July, has largely shut down production of new films and scripted TV shows.
The guild and the studios met last Friday, when the new terms were delivered. They were scheduled to meet again on Tuesday to discuss the union’s response.
Other parts of the offer include a better-than-20-per-cent increase in residual payments made to writers when their shows appear on networks other than the one they were made for.
They have also proposed salary increases and a minimum duration of work for writers in “mini-rooms”, where a smaller number of scribes work before a show is picked up or renewed.
The studios are offering a 5 per cent hike in base pay in the first year, an increase from their previous offer of 4 per cent. The writers have been asking for a 6 per cent raise in the first year of the three-year contract. Bloomberg
