Getty/Michael Buckner
After a tough day of negotiations on Wednesday, the actors’ guild and the studios have pulled the plug for the time being.
Things were clearly “much more difficult than usual” today, says one experienced dealmaker. Another source confirmed: “Things didn’t go well today.” The insider added: “Things are uncertain but a withdrawal from talks seems likely.”
With issues like the guild’s revenue-sharing proposal and AI still sticking points, today’s discussions at SAG-AFTRA’s offices on Wilshire Boulevard again included NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Bob Iger from Disney present. As with most successful five-day fast and furious closing negotiations with the writers, the CEO Gang of Four also attended this round of consultations with SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and other guild leaders.
This evening the CEOs were joined by executives from other studios for a so-called “high council meeting.”
I understand that after a day without deliberations, the parties came back to the table with very different views on the proposals that were put on the table. “There is some serious disagreement between them at the moment about revenue sharing,” one insider noted, also citing SAG-AFTRA’s sweeping AI proposal as another example of obstacles in the talks. “No spin, there’s no other way to say it.”
“Both sides are committed to the process, but it is a complicated matter and each wants to give the issues the time and attention they deserve,” a guild source involved in the negotiations told Deadline.
As pointed out by several people in connection with today’s negotiations, it is not uncommon in labor negotiations for discussions to be paused and resumed, even multiple times. After around 100 days of radio silence, the WGA and the AMPTP resumed their discussions for the first time in August – but that quickly went wrong and the parties did not speak officially again until the end of September, when they finally reached an agreement.
Neither SAG-AFTRA nor AMPTP responded to requests for comment on the current status of the talks. If either or both parties make a statement, we will update it.
David Zaslav, Ted Sarandos, Donna Langley and Bob Iger Getty
SAG-AFTRA began meeting with the CEOs and AMPTP on October 2nd. A week after the WGA reached its tentative agreement, the hearing marked the first time the parties have spoken officially since the actors’ guild went on strike on July 14.
While the Writers Guild officially ended its nearly five-month strike on October 9 with a near-unanimous mandate to ratify its new three-year contract with the studios, SAG-AFTRA members continue their picket lines today, the 91st day of their strike.
As the second week of this round of talks draws to a close, frustrated directors from both sides will meet tonight and in the coming days.
Langley came straight out of the negotiations but remained largely tight-lipped about the status of the talks, appearing Wednesday at the Bloomberg Screentime conference at Nya Studios in the heart of Hollywood. In that, SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP appear to have agreed on at least one thing today – at least not to say anything official about Wednesday’s talks until after Langley’s onstage appearance was over and she had left the event.
Sarandos is scheduled to attend the conference tomorrow morning.
As SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator did at San Diego Comic-Con right after the guild’s strike this summer, Crabtree-Ireland is heading to New York Comic Con this weekend to take part in a panel discussion on AI.
Negotiations could be rescheduled for Thursday and perhaps beyond. However, they are not picket lines.
SAG-AFTRA plans to perform special picketing at Amazon, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery in LA tomorrow from 9 a.m. to noon, as well as at Paramount, Fox and Sony. On the East Coast, the guild plans to picket the offices of Amazon/HBO, NBCU, Paramount+ and Netflix as well as Warner Bros. Discovery in New York to kick off NYCC.