Here Are the Studios' Proposals to the Writers
What do we think?
About a week and a half after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America resumed contract talks, the negotiating unit representing Hollywood’s studios has released the details of its counterproposals to the writers.
Among the items in the proposed package, in the AMPTP’s words:
“Significantly” higher wages, and increases to high-budget SVOD residuals
A “new structure to train writers to become the showrunners of tomorrow, by guaranteeing the length of employment and requiring that at least two mid-level writers, chosen by the Showrunner, be assigned to production”
A guaranteed minimum of 10 weeks of employment for writers in development rooms
Viewership data that will be “provided to the WGA that will include total SVOD view hours per title”
The assurance that “a writer will not be disadvantaged if any part of the script is based on GAI-produced material, so that the writer’s compensation, credit and separated rights will not be affected by the use of GAI-produced material”
On that “new structure”: given the high angst over staffing minimums and duration of employment minimums, this is likely going to be the page of most interest to many a writer:
The WGA did not immediately respond to request for comment late Tuesday.
Read the full proposals below in the AMPTP’s press release:
So, what do we make of the proposals? We’ll have more of a thorough breakdown and analysis in the coming days, but I’d like to hear your first impressions. Talk to me: elaine@theankler.com.
Disclosure: Elaine Low is an inactive member of SAG-AFTRA.
I am sure the other commenters have already pointed out the deficiencies in the deal. I am not a writer, so I won't comment on those.
But what I will say is that AMPTP continues to violate WGA's trust and releasing their deal points in public is just another way for them to tell the writers that they are bullies and not willing to negotiate in good faith. The studios are led by a group of people who are in a death cult where they don't care if the industry destroys itself as long as they can proudly say that they bullied the labour class into taking less. It's like that meme where two people are sitting at a campfire at the end of the world and one of them says "yeah, the planet is destroyed but we made a lot of profit".
1 step forward, 2 steps back from AMPTP.
EDIT 12 hrs after I posted this: Just found out that AMPTP might have violated NLRB rules by going public with their offer.
So: written admission that companies intend to use AI to generate ideas, material and scripts: to replace writers. This fight is existential.