The writers strike — which has now surpassed one hundred days — may be close to ending. After months of protests, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has reportedly indicated that it would like to meet with the Writers’ Guild of America.
Early Thursday morning, WGA members received an email that indicated that the WGA believes the AMPTP will be responding to their proposals from their previous meeting last Friday. In the email, the WGA Negotiating Committee informed members that the AMPTP’s chief negotiator, Carol Lombardi, had reached out about meeting this Friday, August 11.
The Negotiating Committee stated that it was committed to receiving a fair deal on behalf of its members, and further iterated how vital support from their allies has been.
The WGA’s previous meeting with the AMPTP represented the first discussion between the factions in three months. The strike has been a contentious one, to say the least, with producers originally indicating that they had no plans to negotiate with the union. Various allegations also exist of the studios using underhanded tactics to undermine the protestors. Needless to say, goodwill towards the studios is at an all-time low, and it remains to be seen if the AMPTP will give fair and reasonable concessions to the WGA in its negotiations tomorrow.
Unfortunately, the AMPTP has yet to meet or reach out to the Screen Actors Guild, meaning that the actors’ strike may very well stretch on into the indeterminate future. So, while this represents the possibility of a huge step forward in negotiations, it isn’t the end of the road yet.