WGA Rips AMPTP Over “Calculated Disinformation”, Urges New Playbook Before Tomorrow’s Meeting

If you thought the Writers Guild of America was going to be playing nice going into tomorrow’s meeting between WGA Chief Negotiator Ellen Stutzman and AMPTP boss Carol Lombardini – you really might want to think again.

In a flag planting statement put out this afternoon, the WGA Negotiating Committee slammed the studios and streamers for playing games, spreading disinformation and using the same old “tired playbook” in labor relations.

The email sent out to members, many of whom have been on picket lines since May 2, bluntly said: “We won’t prejudge what’s to come. But playbooks die hard.”

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Taking a swing or two at reporting by Deadline (though they don’t mention us by name) of the harsh endgame the studios envision and back channel communications before Lombardini finally called Stutzman on August 1 after over 90 days of top level silence, the committee added:

So far, the companies have wasted months on their same failed strategy. They have attempted, time and time again, through anonymous quotes in the media, to use scare tactics, rumors and lies to weaken our resolve. Article after article has perpetuated a myth that the strike has no impact because streaming services have libraries and some product in the pipeline. Pundits quoting studio executives claim that the strike is good for the companies financially and that they will be happy to have it extend into 2024 so they can write off their losses.  

This is calculated disinformation about the real impact of the ongoing strikes.  We have shut down production. Union writers and actors are so essential in this industry that the companies cannot even attempt to do the work without us. It is not a viable business strategy for these companies to shut down their business for three months and counting no matter how much they try and pretend it is. 

In what is widely expected to be a meeting about a meeting and potential further talks, the sit-down between Stutzman and Lombardini at the AMPTP’s Sherman Oaks offices is supposedly scheduled for late Friday morning, I hear.

Read the full WGA statement here:

We have been on strike for 94 days. SAG-AFTRA joined us 21 days ago. Both our unions are striking to ensure the future of writers and performers in this business that cannot exist without us. 

Every step of the way through this struggle, the AMPTP has run its tired anti-union playbook straight out of the 2007/08 strike. 

We first talked to you about this in May when the AMPTP was attempting to divide and conquer labor by refusing to negotiate, and going first to the DGA and then to SAG-AFTRA to try to make deals they would then attempt to force on writers, regardless of our needs. 

We know how that went. 

Now, two unions are on strike and the industry is three months into a shutdown that is causing delay after delay to TV and movies. It is obviously past time for the companies to get a new playbook–one that recognizes the legitimate issues that caused these strikes and takes steps to address them. 

But we have been down this road before. 

Here’s what happened in 2007/08:  After negotiations broke off on October 31st causing the strike, they resumed in late November only to break off for a second time in December as the strike continued. Why? Because when the companies came back to the table they weren’t serious about addressing the WGA’s proposals. They called Guild leadership “out-of-touch”. They waged a relentless campaign through the media and surrogates to spread dissent.   

We won’t prejudge what’s to come. But playbooks die hard. So far, the companies have wasted months on their same failed strategy. They have attempted, time and time again, through anonymous quotes in the media, to use scare tactics, rumors and lies to weaken our resolve. Article after article has perpetuated a myth that the strike has no impact because streaming services have libraries and some product in the pipeline. Pundits quoting studio executives claim that the strike is good for the companies financially and that they will be happy to have it extend into 2024 so they can write off their losses.  

This is calculated disinformation about the real impact of the ongoing strikes.  We have shut down production. Union writers and actors are so essential in this industry that the companies cannot even attempt to do the work without us. It is not a viable business strategy for these companies to shut down their business for three months and counting no matter how much they try and pretend it is. 

The rumors of backchannel talks were rampant this week, entirely driven by management, and only because they see it as a useful tactic. Give the town hope, soften us up, and try to use the suffering of other workers and businesses to pressure us to settle. Get us to throw away the power we have collectively accumulated and make us accept a bad deal. It is all part of the playbook. Every move they make at the bargaining table and every rumor away from it needs to be evaluated through the lens of their attempts to get us to accept less. 

We’re not falling for it. Writers – screenwriters, Appendix A writers, episodic television writers, all writers – have marched together for 94 days now. We have struck to make writing a viable profession for all of us, now and in the future. We have not come all this way, and sacrificed this much, to half-save ourselves. 

Therefore, we challenge the studios and AMPTP to come to the meeting they called for this Friday with a new playbook: Be willing to make a fair deal and begin to repair the damage your strikes and your business practices have caused the workers in this industry.

Until then, our fellow writers, we will see you on the lines.

In solidarity, 

WGA NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE

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