Date set for negotiations between WGA and studios over new pay deal

On the picket line during the 2007 writers’ strike

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) are set to begin negotiations on March 20 over a new WGA Minimum Basic Agreement.

The start date for negotiations means the parties will have six weeks to come to terms before the expiration of the current three-year deal on May 1. If no agreement is reached, it could lead to the first US writers’ strike for 15 years.

The showdown between the WGA and AMPTP, which represents the major studios in labour matters, has been one of the major industry talking points for the past six months, with many predicting that a strike could be on the cards.

“The AMPTP is fully committed to reaching a fair and reasonable deal that brings strength and stability to the industry,” said the AMPTP in a statement on Wednesday. The WGA did not comment but did confirm to C21 that bargaining would begin on March 20.

While the WGA has not publicly disclosed exactly how it will approach these negotiations, key issues set to be raised include basic pay, residuals payments from streaming and the comparatively small size of writing teams on streaming shows versus network TV series.

More broadly, many US TV scribes feel the writer payment model needs to be fundamentally realigned for the streaming era. The WGA is expected to soon issue a formal list of issues that it wants to see addressed in the new contract.

The WGA-AMPTP negotiations come at a potentially chaotic moment for the US television industry, with the Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA’s respective contracts with AMPTP both set to expire less than two months later, on June 30.

The previous writers’ strike lasted 100 days, from November 5, 2007 to February 12, 2008.