Quite A Lot, Actually
And now, the end is here.
After five tense days of direct talks, they announced a tentative deal on September 24.
ELLEN STUTZMAN:This is the deal writers needed to get.
Ellen Stutzman & Meredith StiehmCourtesy of WGAW/WGA
I saw it as a steady climb, because we very much knew what we needed.
We knew how we were going to get there was union solidarity and being on strike strikes work.
This strike was way too long, because the companies took so long to get serious.
From left: Studio chief David Zaslav, Ted Sarandos, Donna Langley & Bob IgerGetty
So much was wasted and lost by just not acting earlier.
STUTZMAN:I would just say member power is what brought this deal in.
Thats such an important thing.
I think everyone whos gone through this recognizes that solidarity and resolve made this possible.
And as Meredith said, it did last for far too long.
STUTZMAN:The leadership knows they made a good deal, so members should go back to work.
People should go back to work and start getting a paycheck while the ratification process goes on.
Theyve been out of work for far too long.
DEADLINE:I get that, but what about for SAG-AFTRA members?
STIEHM:The big difference last week was just that people got serious.
DEADLINE:Howdo you mean?
Sadly, it seemed like it took them a really long time to understand that.
STUTZMAN:The process took far too long.
It took too long because the AMPTP had a strategy.
Its the same one they employ in every negotiation, and they used in the last strike.
DEADLINE:What is that strategy?
STUTZMAN:Its so obvious.
Its to make a deal with another union and put that pattern to the Writers Guild.
So their plan all along was to ignore us for two months.
They had to understand that writers have very real issues that have to be addressed.
When we said no, they released it to the membership.
And you know how that went over.
DEADLINE:Like a lead balloon.
So at a certain point we reconnected, and they indicated that they wanted to make a deal.
When we met last week, they made that a reality by moving and addressing our issues.
DEADLINE:What was that new dawn like in the room?
We had a lot of substantive issues to go over.
It was just ongoing talks.
Pushing each other until Friday night.
DEADLINE:Its mind-boggling that this had to go on so long.
They were stuck in a way; they really could never deviate from what they wanted to do.
Things like, a minimum staff size three levels of it, by the way.
Data transparency in streaming; there was a myth that theyre never going to share that.
Some residuals based on success in streaming.
We were told no one knows what success is.
Real AI protections; they refused to negotiate about that before we went on strike.
All thats on top of many other games.
STIEHM:I think its transformative.
I mean, it is an amazing deal that has meaningful gains for every sector.
Honestly it was sort of inevitable.
AI, which you mentioned, was also an existential proposal one that had to addressed now.
It just was amazing that people hung together.
I do think it will affect futures generations of writers.
Erik Pedersen contributed to this report.
