Hollywood’s writers, represented by the Writers Guild of America (WGA), have been on strike for about 115 days now. They received support from Hollywood’s actors with the , Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joining them in the strike July onwards. Negotiations are still on with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the studios and production companies of Hollywood, including Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Warner Bros and Apple.
According to the writers’ union, the studios are still not offering adequate protection to writers from the threats that led to the strike. The public disclosure of the studios’ proposal does not satisfy the writers at all.
However, the studios maintain that their recent proposal grants them the biggest hike in wages witnessed in the past 30 years. It also offers them better residuals, which is a kind of royalty that the writers have been demanding. According to the studios, the writers are being offered protection against artificial intelligence, and that they will also offer a certain level of streaming viewership data to the guild. Earlier, this information was kept confidential.
When negotiations were resumed on 11 August 2023, there seemed to be some hope within the entertainment industry that the dispute may be resolved. However, the proposal made public by AMPTP may have reached a stalemate once again. The studios, however, say they are trying their best to arrive at an amicable agreement so that television shoes and movies can continue to be created smoothly.