WGA and Studios End Friday Talks Without Deal; Saturday Negotiations Set

Negotiators for the WGA and the AMPTP plus top studio CEOs were working Friday night to close a deal to end the scribes’ strike, but it seems they aren’t quite there yet.

Running from around 11 a.m. to 8:45 p.m., the third day of direct talks between the WGA negotiating committee and the heads of Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery has ended without a tentative agreement for a new three-year contract. 

While the two sides were able to find accord on a number of issues, a solution acceptable to all on matters like AI and writers rooms’ minimum staffing levels has eluded the negotiators so far.

However, nothing was etched in stone as the two sides will sit down again on Saturday.

“The WGA and AMPTP met for bargaining on Friday and will meet again on Saturday,” the guild said in a note sent out to members at 9:41 pm. “Thank you for the wonderful show of support on the picket lines today! It means so much to us as we continue to work toward a deal that writers deserve. “

There is a “determination to get this done before the [Jewish] holiday,” an insider said. 

Yom Kippur runs from sundown Sunday, September 24 to sundown Monday, September 25 this year.

After 100 days of no talks, after the WGA called its first strike in 15 years on May 2, the fact that the CEO Gang of Four has been directly engaged this week was already a leap forward. 

The speed at which the deliberations in August quickly crashed and burned made it apparent that Bob Iger, Donna Langley, Ted Sarandos, and David Zaslav needed to be in the room this time around to address the WGA’s proposals head-on.