Hollywood’s strikes are over

After recently meeting to discuss the possibility of resuming talks about a new labor contract, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) are now set to return to the negotiation table this Friday — more than three months into Hollywood’s writers strike.

Variety reports that the AMPTP plans to meet with the WGA this Friday to present a formal response to the guild’s list of proposals for a new labor contract, which includes changes like improved minimum rates, a larger percentage of streaming residuals, and staffing requirements for writers rooms.

The 75th annual Emmy Awards have officially been postponed. Instead of taking place in September, the Television Academy says the ceremony will now air on January 15th, 2024, marking the first time the Emmys have been delayed in over 20 years.

While the Television Academy doesn’t mention why the awards have been delayed, it’s because the show would look rather empty without all the Hollywood writers and actors who are currently on strike. The rules of the strike prevent unionized writers and actors from accepting awards for struck work and also bars them from attending events that promote it.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) met yesterday with representatives of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to confidentially discuss resuming talks, but the meeting ended without a definite agreement to resume negotiations (via Deadline). After the AMPTP withdrew to “consult with their member studios,” the WGA sent an email to its members disclosing the particulars of the discussion, saying studios had leaked details of the meeting to the press.

In the Friday talk, according to WGA’s letter to its members, the AMPTP said it was willing to offer more for “a few writer-specific TV minimums,” and was willing to discuss studio AI use, but wouldn’t consider success-based residuals or preserving writers’ rooms. (Disclosure: Vox Media’s editorial team, which includes The Verge, is also unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.)

Though it won’t necessarily lead to an immediate end to Hollywood’s ongoing writing strike, the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are scheduled to have a meeting this Friday — their first since the strike began three months ago.

Variety reports that WGA chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman has agreed to meet with AMPTP president Carol Lombardini this Friday in response to a direct request from the AMPTP head to discuss next steps that could lead to labor contract negotiations resuming. In a statement shared to its members on Tuesday evening, the WGA confirmed that Lombardini and Stutzman are set to speak and stressed the importance of paying attention to the union’s official channels.

When the Screen Actors Guild began giving independently produced projects clearance to continue production during Hollywood’s two ongoing labor strikes earlier this month, there was a sizable amount of confusion about how the process worked and why the union was doing it, given that it had called for an industrywide work stoppage just days earlier. Now, as more people have begun to question the logic behind the interim agreements being granted, SAG-AFTRA says they’re very much a part of its plan to help its members survive a strike that’s already taken some particularly ugly and telling turns.

On Sunday evening, SAG-AFTRA posted a lengthy statement to its website explaining what its interim agreements are and how they’re being handed out to over 100 different indie projects, like The Chosen, is not at odds with the strike because those productions aren’t directly associated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. In addition to stressing that it’s still very much striking against the AMPTP, SAG-AFTRA also insisted that the interim agreements aren’t “waivers” but rather legally binding contracts that adhere to the very same labor terms the union is pushing the studios to agree upon.

The 75th annual Emmy Awards likely won’t take place on September 18th as planned. According to a report from Variety, vendors, producers, and others involved with the ceremony have been notified that the date has been pushed back amid the Hollywood strikes.

While the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced its nominees for the 2023 awards on July 12th, this took place just one day before the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) called a strike. Meanwhile, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike since May, with both unions looking for higher streaming residuals and protections surrounding the use of AI.

General Hospital, the longest-running American soap opera, is turning to scab writers to keep the show going amidst the Writers Guild of America’s ongoing strike. One of the show’s writers, Shannon Peace, shared the news on her Instagram account, saying, “Starting next week, the show will be penned exclusively by scab writers which is heartbreaking.”

According to Peace, the show has run through all the scripts that were written before the strike began and has now employed non-union writers in order to keep the show on the air. Typically, people who cross picket lines to perform struck work are met with derision, but Peace acknowledged that the current situation is unique for soap operas. (Disclosure: The Verge’s editorial staff is also unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.)

For the first time in over 60 years, the unions representing actors and Hollywood writers are staging a strike at the same time, protesting low pay and studios’ proposals for using artificial intelligence tools in production. More than 175,000 union members are out of work until a deal is made. 

But the ripple effects of the strikes are also reaching another group: influencers and digital content creators who are far from a household name but work in an industry that is, at times, synonymous with fast-track fame. Most of them are non-union influencers, leading to confusion. How can creators keep making money while their peers in Hollywood strike? What rules are they required to follow? What’s their role in all of this?

This story first appeared in Hot Pod Insider, The Verge’s newsletter on podcasting and the audio industry. Subscribe here for more.

The three co-hosts of the One Tree Hill rewatch podcast Drama Queens were working on their latest episode when they got the news that their union — SAG-AFTRA — was going on strike. As former cast members of the popular CW show that capped off its last season in 2012, Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton, and Bethany Joy Lenz were suddenly in a bind: fans wanted new episodes of the podcast, but the hosts weren’t sure if they could talk about their old show without breaking strike rules. For now, the hosts plan on just talking about everything but the show One Tree Hill on their One Tree Hill podcast — until hearing otherwise from the union. 

Don’t get it twisted: trees are a crucial lifeline during a severe heatwave like the one gripping the US right now. So the tree trimming controversy that unfolded this week during the screenwriters and actors strike is anything but trivial.

In case you missed it, union members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joined picket lines outside Universal Studios despite temperatures soaring above 90 degrees Fahrenheit this week. In a tweet that went viral, writer Chris Stephens pointed out on Monday that trees that would have shaded the protesters were suddenly quite bald.

While the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America’s ongoing labor strikes have brought production on most of Hollywood’s movies and shows to an indefinite stop, filming on the fourth season of The Chosen — Dallas Jenkins’ historical drama series about Jesus Christ — is reportedly continuing because it is not associated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Deadline — the entertainment industry trade that recently came under fire and subsequently apologized for aggressively misrepresenting an actor’s thoughts about the strike — reports that SAG-AFTRA has granted The Chosen an exemption allowing it to keep shooting its forthcoming fourth season due to its being a “truly independent” production.

Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA president and the creator of the iconic Fran Fine, stepped up to the microphone, vibrating with fury. She was there with a small group of SAG-AFTRA members to announce their first strike since 1980. “The eyes of the world and particularly the eyes of labor are upon us,” Drescher said. “The gravity of this move is not lost on me, or our negotiating committee, or our board members who have voted unanimously to proceed with a strike.”

This strike is different. It’s far more complicated than just wanting a bigger cut of the hit films and TV shows that actors and writers helped create. A rapid shift toward streaming — coupled with the existential threat posed by AI — has created a canyon between what Hollywood writers and actors want and what the country’s largest media companies are willing to give. As Drescher so bluntly puts it: “You cannot change the business model as much as it has changed and not expect the contract to change too.”

Over the last eight months, disparate segments of the public have clamored to integrate generative AI software like OpenAI’s ChatGPT into their daily lives — and especially into their work.

Everyone from doctors and online marketers to students and tennis announcers is experimenting with bringing AI tools into the fold. Aspiring millionaire spammers are using chatbots to speed up their junk generation, while artists are using AI art tools like Midjourney to beat out human competition. At least one lazy lawyer tried — and failed — to cut down on the research they needed to do. The promise of maximizing output and saving time is driving much of the “experimentation.”

During today’s press conference in which Hollywood actors confirmed that they were going on strike, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator, revealed a proposal from Hollywood studios that sounds ripped right out of a Black Mirror episode.

In a statement about the strike, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said that its proposal included “a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses for SAG-AFTRA members.”