Disney Studios Executives Meeting With Other Studio Executives To Discuss Actors & Writers Strikes
With the writer’s strike and actor’s strikes still ongoing after months of disruptions and no end in sight, according to Deadline, many of the top executives from the studios, including Disney’s Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, in addition to Amazon Studios’ Mike Hopkins and Jennifer Salke, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Universal’s Donna Langley, and Warner Bros Discovery’s David Zaslav are taking part in a virtual sit-down meeting later today to discuss a way forward to end the writers and actors strikes.
Apparently, Disney CEO Bob Iger won’t be taking part in the meeting, due to his earlier stance of having the heads of his Entertainment division being hands-on with the labour situation and only stepping in when it’s appropriate. Last week, Bob Iger and other CEOs from Netflix and Warner Brothers Discovery met with the Writers Guild to discuss the latest counterproposal. However, this didn’t go as they had planned, which resulted in the studios releasing the current offer that’s been offered and hiring a new PR team to help with the situation.
The writer’s strike began back in May, and the actor’s strike began in July. While the Writer’s Guild Of America and the studios have had some meetings, with an improved offer on the table, it still doesn’t meet all of the union’s requirements. And the studios and Screen Actors Guild union haven’t yet had any meetings, though recently, SAG has said they are willing to return to the table to discuss their contract demands.
According to the AMPTP aka the studios have said that they are waiting for an official response from the WGA to their offer that they gave on August 11th, while the guild says they already made a counter on August 15th and that they need to hear back from the studios regarding that offer.
Hopefully, the two sides will be getting back together soon to discuss the problems that will see the actors and writers get paid more fairly and with better working conditions, including better protection from AI. If the situation isn’t resolved soon, we are likely going to see more delays to upcoming releases, to spread out the content due to delays in filming, and the lack of availability of actors is impacting promotional opportunities for shows and films.