AMC’s Interim Deals Are Just the Beginning of Hollywood’s Desperation To End the Strikes

Though SAG-AFTRA actors, along with WGA writers, remain on strike against the AMPTP, the actors’ union has been signing interim agreements with several networks and production companies individually, allowing certain productions to continue filming without being considered scabbed work during the strikes.

Recently, Deadline reported that AMC is the latest network to make such deals with SAG-AFTRA. While the network has not made an interim deal that applies to all of its productions, it has made deals specifically related to The Walking Dead spinoffs Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live, as well as season 2 of Interview With the Vampire.

The deals will allow actors to work specifically on these shows during the strike, which is great news for them! It also blows a hole in the AMPTP’s argument that what the actors and writers are asking for is outlandish and unreasonable. If individual networks like AMC, and smaller production companies like A24 and Neon, can give the actors what they’re asking for, why can’t (won’t?) larger companies like Disney and Netflix?

The cracks are starting to show in other areas of the AMPTP’s case, too. For example, Deadline also reported on a recent communication that the WGA made to its membership at the end of last week, providing an update on negotiations. The WGA Negotiating Committee made the following main points (note and emphasis mine):

1. In 130 days of strike, the AMPTP has only offered one proposal to the WGA on August 11th. The WGA presented a counterproposal to the AMPTP on August 15th to which the AMPTP has not yet replied. Talks remain at a standstill.
2. The AMPTP is a trade organization (or a cartel, depending on who you ask), not a union, so there’s no rule saying that its individual company members can’t negotiate with the Writers’ Guild or SAG-AFTRA. The WGA is absolutely willing to do that with any company that wants to.

The Negotiating Committee also said that they’ve communicated privately with executives from several AMPTP member companies who now seem more amenable to signing a separate deal. From the WGA communication:

“[D]uring individual conversations with legacy studio executives in the weeks since SAG-AFTRA went on strike, we have heard both the desire and willingness to negotiate an agreement that adequately addresses writers’ issues. One executive said they had reviewed our proposals, and though they did not commit to a specific deal, said our proposals would not affect their company’s bottom line and that they recognized they must give more than usual to settle this negotiation. Another said they needed a deal badly. Those same executives—and others—have said they are willing to negotiate on proposals that the AMPTP has presented to the public as deal breakers. On every single issue we are asking for we have had at least one legacy studio executive tell us they could accommodate us.

So, while the intransigence of the AMPTP structure is impeding progress, these behind-the-scenes conversations demonstrate there is a fair deal to be made that addresses our issues.”

Meanwhile, in an attempt to wrest back the media narrative, the AMPTP made a statement to Deadline on the same day as the WGA communication, saying that “The AMPTP member companies are aligned and are negotiating together to reach a resolution. Any suggestion to the contrary is false.”

They also provided Deadline with their own version of a timeline of proposals and counterproposals with the WGA:

April 14, 2023: AMPTP presented WGA with its Comprehensive Package Proposal, a
31-page document.

April 26, 2023: AMPTP presented WGA with its Revised Comprehensive Package
Proposal, a 40-page document.

April 30, 2023: AMPTP presented WGA with its Second Revised Comprehensive Package
Proposal, a 41-page document that addressed all items in negotiations.

August 11, 2023: AMPTP presented WGA with its Third Revised Comprehensive Package
Proposal, a 69-page document that addressed all items in negotiations.

August 15, 2023: WGA responded with a 4-page document with limited moves in a
handful of areas.

August 16, 2023: WGA provided details of its revised written proposal on A.I.

August 17, 2023: AMPTP provided WGA a revised AI counterproposal, which focused on
the key concerns that the WGA had expressed during discussion the previous day.

August 18, 2023: AMPTP offered further compromises to WGA’s August 15th
response. WGA indicated it would respond the following week. AMPTP has not heard from the
Guild since that time.

This certainly contradicts what the WGA told its membership about not having heard from the AMPTP since the WGA’s counterproposal on the August 15. However, it’s telling that the WGA gave an update to their membership, and it was reported on by the press, whereas the AMPTP went directly to the press to make sure they weren’t caught with toilet paper stuck to their shoe in the bathroom of public opinion.

Ultimately, face-saving appeals to the press don’t matter. What does matter is what is actually happening behind closed doors during any negotiations that may or may not be happening. While Hollywood unions have made it clear from the beginning that their situation is desperate enough that writers and actors are willing to forego their livelihoods to fight for better working conditions, we’re now starting to see just how desperate the situation is for the companies that used to employ them.

(featured image: AMC)