The Writers Guild of America and major studios met for the second time this week on Thursday as the writers’ strike has stretched for more than 140 days and financial pain has rippled across the industry.
After weeks of little progress toward ending the crippling strike, the two sides met Wednesday for the first time since a Aug. 22 meeting that representatives for the writers described as a “lecture” and a browbeating session.
Wednesday’s meeting included top executives from some of the major media companies represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which handles labor negotiations for the Hollywood studios.
NBCUniversal Studio Group Chairman Donna Langley, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav participated in the meeting, a signal of the increasing pressure on the industry to get a deal done that would return thousands of entertainment industry employees to work. CEOs were expected to also join Thursday’s session, which was set to begin around 9:30 a.m.
The WGA and AMPTP issued a brief statement following Wednesday’s meeting.
“The WGA and AMPTP met for bargaining today and will meet again tomorrow,” the groups said.
They did not comment Thursday morning.
People close to the negotiations described the tone of Wednesday’s bargaining as positive, but that reports of the two sides being close to a deal are off base. The WGA was expected to respond Thursday to proposals that the studio group had put forth.