Writers Have ‘Tempered’ Hopes With Studios Back at the Bargaining Table: ‘We’re Not Going to Take a Bad Deal’ (Video)
A day after conversations between the WGA and the AMPTP resumed and turned the negotiations in a positive direction, writers at the picket line weren’t holding their breath and stood ready to keep up the strike.
Thursday marked the 143rd day since the WGA strike was launched on May 2. Since then, the union and the studios have gone back and forth on conversations related to the writers’ demands, which currently still include mandatory staffing for writers’ rooms, guaranteed minimums for comedy variety and other Appendix A TV shows made for streaming and pay structures for streaming.
“There’s one group that can end this, it’s the AMPTP,” writer Alfredo Septien (“Stargirl”) said in comments to the wrap outside Netflix’s Hollywood offices. “I’m cautiously optimistic because things sound good, but it could also be a ploy. On the one hand, they tell us they’re poor and they cry. On the other hand, they’re telling their stockholders how well their companies are doing and how bright the future is. So somewhere something doesn’t quite add up. I want to get back to work. I want everybody to get back to work.”
Shawnte McCall (“K.C.” Undercover”) said his hopes were “tempered” as he experienced the 2007-08 writer strikes, and highlighted that he wants to be realistic about a potential resolution.
“I’m a little older now, and I was here for the last strike in ’07,” McCall said. “I won’t believe we have a deal until we actually have a deal. We were optimistic before… I actually think this may go another month or so, even though production usually shuts down in November. If there’s no deal, then we just keep marching, and we keep picketing.”
He continued: “The writers’ guild and SAG-AFTRA, we’ve got to make sure that we both get fair deals. And deals that properly take care of us and the work, the art, that we create.”
For writer Brittany Miller, she said she will wait until she hears from the WGA about any consensus made between studios and writers and won’t be relying on media to provide her with details.
“I don’t believe any of the leaks. I don’t believe any of the hype in the headlines. I wait for my union to tell me what the f–k actually happened,” Miller said. “But I feel it’s better than not talking. So it feels good in that regard that at least meetings are happening, and I hope that means progress is being made.”
She added that any advancement that the writers make will ultimately impact the actors’ movement in a positive way.
“The WGA is going hard in the paint for ourselves,” Miller said. “And that also means for SAG-AFTRA. We’re not going to take a bad deal and then sort of put them in a bind. So I know that the WGA is strong, and the negotiators are strong. The wins that we secure for our union will also be wins for SAG-AFTRA.”
For all of TheWrap’s WGA strike coverage, read here.
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