WGA chief negotiator David Young takes medical leave as AMPTP talks loom
Writers Guild of America (WGA) West executive director David Young, who was to serve as the chief negotiator in the upcoming talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), has taken a medical leave of absence, it was announced on Tuesday.
In Young’s absence, WGA West’s assistant executive director, Ellen Stutzman, will step into the role of lead negotiator.
The switch comes three weeks before the WGA is set to begin talks with AMPTP over a new Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) on March 20.
Bargaining begins six weeks before May 1, the date when the current MBA contract expires. If an agreement is not reached, it could result in the first US writers’ strike in more than 15 years.
Young has held the role since 2006 and been chief negotiator for each contract negotiation since then, including the talks that eventually broke down and led to the 2007 writers’ strike.
Stutzman is a 17-year veteran of the WGA West and has served as assistant executive director since 2018. During that time, she has had oversight of the agency, legal, contracts and research and public policy departments. She has also been a key figure in the past three MBA negotiations.
“Ellen has earned the confidence and full support of the WGAW Board, WGAE Council, and the WGA negotiating committee,” read a statement sent to WGA members.
“She will lead a staff with decades of experience negotiating and enforcing the MBA and organising and mobilising members to support the guilds’ contract campaigns.
“We know we speak for the entire WGAW and WGAE memberships in wishing David a full recovery.”
Earlier in the week, the WGA released its Pattern of Demands, a list of issues that it intends to address during the negotiations. The WGA asked its members to vote on the Pattern of Demands, which is not a specific set of proposals but a list of pertinent topics designed to inform members of the general objectives the guild intends to pursue.
Objectives listed in the Pattern of Demands include: a significant increase to minimum compensation to “address the devaluation of writing in all areas of television, new media and features”; standardised pay and residual terms for feature films regardless of whether they are released in theatres or on streaming platforms; addressing the “abuses of mini-rooms”; and increased contributions pension plans and health funds. It also included the need to regulate material that is produced using artificial intelligence or similar technologies.
