After Butchering Trees and Their Own Reputations, Studios Finally Try Talking To Resolve WGA Strike

The AMPTP’s member companies have been engaging in all manner of tactics to try and end the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes by inspiring fear or chipping away at worker morale. They’ve contributed to fear-mongering articles about ending overall deals and waiting for writers to be homeless. They’ve butchered trees that provided shade for picketers and started construction projects that happened to coincide with when striking workers would need the sidewalks outside their studios.

Now, it seems like the studios are ready to do what they should’ve done from the beginning: talk.

In an email to membership, shared on their strike website, the WGA Negotiating Committee communicated a short message on August 1, alerting everyone to a ray of hope that has finally emerged:

Dear Members,

The AMPTP, through Carol Lombardini, reached out to the WGA today and requested a meeting this Friday to discuss negotiations. 

We’ll be back in communication with you sometime after the meeting with further information. As we’ve said before, be wary of rumors. Whenever there is important news to share, you will hear it directly from us.

In solidarity, 

WGA Negotiating Committee

It would be great if the studios finally came around to the fact that the striking writers and actors aren’t kidding. WGA and SAG-AFTRA members are legitimately ready to stay on strike as long as it takes, because there’s nothing more at stake in this fight than the survival and sustainability of creative careers.

That said, the wording of the message makes me wary. That the AMPTP wants to set up a meeting “to discuss negotiations” sounds very much like their proposal to writers regarding the use of AI. Rather than suggesting concrete guidelines, the AMPTP offered an annual meeting to talk about AI.

“Talking about” isn’t doing, so it remains to be seen whether renewed negotiations will actually happen, or whether they’ll simply talk about negotiating.

I also hope this same call will go out to SAG-AFTRA, as they, too, are fighting for the lives of creative people. But since the WGA has been on strike longer, it makes sense that the AMPTP would want to rebuild that bridge first.

Maybe they can rebuild these bridges by using all the wood that’s piled up from when they butchered the trees.

(featured image: David McNew, Getty Images)