Talk about saying the quiet part out loud. According to Deadline, who spoke with several industry figures anonymously, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers allegedly plan to let writers go broke before setting up more meetings to negotiate terms amid the Writers Guild of America’s current strike. Yep, you read that right.
The AMPTP is reportedly not planning to go back to the bargaining table until some time in the fall, according to the outlet.
“The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” a studio executive told Deadline. The statement was allegedly corroborated to the outlet by several other sources, with one of which calling the play “a cruel but necessary evil.”
It appears studios believe that WGA leadership would be exposed to the wrath of financially spiraling writers who will, in turn, demand that talks be restarted before the onset of a dire Christmas holiday. In that (very sick) way, they feel it's a surefire way to secure the upper hand in any potential talks and deals.
According to other sources interviewed by Deadline, the studios and streamers are planning for a “long strike” that will potentially see another trip to the bargaining table in “late October,” if they have their way. Even worse, this timeline was allegedly agreed to “months” before the WGA put the pedal to the metal on a strike.
Their effort to “break the WGA” — the exact words one exec allegedly told the outlet — will be met with a WGA that, by all accounts, is standing in intense solidarity as they continue to fight for a list of demands in line with the developments of the industry.
The AMPTP responded to Deadline's report with the following statement from a spokesperson: “These anonymous people are not speaking on behalf of the AMPTP or member companies, who are committed to reaching a deal and getting our industry back to work."
The Screen Actors Guild’s deadline to cinch negotiations with the studios is up today, July 12, which means they could go on strike as well as early as July 13. That could change things quite a bit, bulldozing a path for strengthened solidarity studios simply will not have the power to ignore.
It’s been 15 years since the WGA called a strike, and despite the severity of the issues on the table, there have been no discussions between the guild and the AMPTP despite the guild’s public offers to meet on several occasions.
Thumbnail credit: Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images
Lex Briscuso is film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
