Daily Digest: AMPTP ‘Too Busy to Talk to Us’
WGA negotiating committee co-chair Chris Keyser has choice words one month in
Happy month-iversary, writers strike. What do you give someone after one month of labor action? A custom picket sign? Sunscreen? Pizza? All the demands on their list of contract proposals?
It’s June 2, which means we’ve hit the monthlong mark of the writers strike, and the major Hollywood studios and Writers Guild appear no closer to giving each other gifts of any kind across the negotiating table. In fact, they haven’t even been back to the negotiating table.
While the AMPTP has been tied up in talks with the Directors Guild since May 10, the bargaining group representing the studios does not appear to have reopened talks with the WGA, but not for any regulatory reasons. WGA negotiating committee co-chair Chris Keyser told me on the picket line at the Fox lot on Thursday that “there is no rule that says you can only talk to one person at a time.”
“The AMPTP has essentially suggested that they’re too busy to talk to us, which is a lot of nonsense,” he said. “They can talk to us whenever they want. They know where to find us. We’re right outside their gates. We’re here when they’re ready to talk — and talk seriously about the issues that affect writers.”
Keyser also issued a fiery update to WGA membership on Friday, touting solidarity across the various Hollywood unions and encouraging writers to stay the course:
“The single thing that will determine whether we succeed or fail in this strike is our endurance — both physical and emotional. I have no doubt about that endurance. Writers’ strength of character aside, the companies have made us strong. They have taught us, however painfully, to withstand months and months without work. Their abuse of us has made it untenable to rush back to jobs that may not even be there in a year or two, in a career where even success is financially unsustainable. But even if we endure, there will be challenges. It will be painful. Uncertainty is painful. Is there anyone of us who doesn’t wake up feeling the weight of this every day? I don’t think so.”
The industry has sustained not insignificant damage as a result of the ongoing strike — Deadline reported earlier that the Motion Picture & Television Fund has seen a spike in financial assistance requests to 40 calls per day from individuals in crisis, up from 10 to 15 calls normally. And as we reported yesterday, local businesses are hurting, too.
But in his taped remarks, Keyser said that “the month of June will bring us all some answers. By the time it’s over, the companies may find themselves in battle on more than one front, or we alone may be without a contract. And either way, we will fight on.”
Today’s Strike News
Even with potential improvements in a post-strike world, BIPOC writers say they’ll still face an uphill battle in acquiring equal opportunities, management and upward mobility. (The Wrap)
In solidarity with the WGA, Snoop Dogg is postponing the 30th anniversary celebration of his debut album, Doggystyle, which was set to take place at the Hollywood Bowl and feature Dr. Dre. (The Hollywood Reporter)
It’s eight years to the day since Community wrapped up its six-season run, and though the film offshoot of the cult classic was supposed to begin filming this month, the strike has delayed the long-awaited final chapter even further, series star Joel McHale revealed. (TVLine)
More than 50 Democratic members of the New York state legislature have come out in support of the WGA, implying in two separate letters that how the AMPTP handles this next stage of the negotiations may impact the “hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits” they receive annually. (The Hollywood Reporter)
If only we could call bullsh*t: Poker Face creator Rian Johnson has said that when season 2 of the Peacock detective series arrives has “a lot… to do with what happens in terms of the writers’ strike.” (Deadline)
Picket Sign of the Day
I couldn’t help but wonder…
Additional reporting by Matthew Frank