Bob Iger Wants Strikes To End “Quickly”; Soft-Talking Disney CEO “Personally Committed” To A Deal As WGA Strike Hit 100 Days

Disney has been hit again with another lawsuit from investors over the alleged sleight of hand accounting the company used to hide streaming losses.

EXCLUSIVE: Amid a focus on content curation and Disney-owned IP, Disney+ is not proceeding with The Spiderwick Chronicles, its live-action series adaptation of the popular children’s fantasy books, Deadline has learned.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America told members Wednesday that the latest offer from the studios is “not yet good enough,” and said that it would continue to fight to address “existential threats” to the writing profession. In an email, the WGA picked out half a dozen areas where it believes the studio offer falls short. The guild noted that the studios are willing to enshrine the concept of a TV staff size in the contract for the first time.

Universal Studios Group Chair Pearlena Igbokwe has said there is determination from all sides to find an “equitable” solution to the Hollywood labor strikes.

Just hours after the studios and streamers made public their latest “comprehensive package” towards a deal with the WGA, the guild has responded – and its seems the AMPTP and top CEOs may have strategically overplayed their hand.

WGA leaders met face-to-face with key CEOs on Tuesday evening as executives sought to pitch the guild on their most recent contract offer in the hopes of ending the nearly four-month-old strike. Late Tuesday, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers released details of the contract offer presented to the WGA on Aug. 11.

mockumentary comedy “Underdeveloped,” premiering Sept. 8 on free streamer Tubi.He is also a member of both the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, both of which remain on strike.

Trustees of New York City’s $250 billion pension funds have warned Disney, Paramount and Comcast that they risk losing investor confidence if they allow the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes to drag on much longer. The WGA has been on strike since May 2, and SAG-AFTRA since July 14.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America responded Tuesday to the latest proposal from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, but any hopes for an easy resolution of the 106-day strike were quickly dispelled. The WGA did bend slightly on a few items, according to sources familiar with the talks. But the union negotiators did not offer the significant concessions that the studio side was looking for in response to its own offer.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer TSG Entertainment, which has invested more than $3 billion in 140 Fox films including “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “The Shape of Water,” accused Disney in a lawsuit on Tuesday of using Hollywood accounting tricks to cheat it out of hundreds of millions of dollars. The slate financier alleged that Disney had engaged in “self-dealing” by diverting Fox films from a lucrative HBO license to its own Disney+ and Hulu platforms. The lawsuit also alleges that Fox engaged in “sweetheart” deals when it licensed its films to the FX cable channel.

As the ongoing WGA strike hits 100 days, the entirety of Hollywood wonders how long both that and the SAG-AFTRA strike will last. In the case of WGA, this strike is no officially longer than the 2007-2008 strike, but has a ways to go before it hits the 1988 writers’ strike 153 days, the longest in the union’s history.  Disney CEO Bob Iger hopes neither strike lasts that long, though.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney is coming for the streaming password-sharing freeloaders. Taking a page from Netflix’s playbook, Disney chief Bob Iger announced that the media conglomerate has put a priority on finding ways to convert password-borrowing users into paying customers.

Disney CEO Bob Iger shook up the entertainment industry and Wall Street last month when he declared to CNBC at Sun Valley that linear television may be non-core and that he’s looking for partners for ESPN as the company pivots to streaming.

Disney is following through on stated plan to raise streaming prices (welcome news to investors if not to many consumers), as well as launching a bundled version of Disney+ and Hulu and expanding the ad-supported version of Disney+ to Europe and Canada.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed the ongoing writers and actors strikes during the Mouse House’s quarterly earnings call Wednesday, just as the WGA’s work stoppage hit the 100-day mark. “Nothing is more important to this company than its relationships with the creative community. That includes actors, writers, animators, directors and producers,” Iger said.

Billy Porter is one of the many working actors being affected by the ongoing Hollywood strikes.

Disney saw direct-to-consumer losses shrink and adjusted EPS top estimates for the three months ended in June as CEO Bob Iger said the company’s on track to exceed $5.5 billion in anticipated cost savings.

actors and entertainers are striking in Hollywood and around the country with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) as they demand a rise in pay and residuals in the streaming era.And while the strikes may have a positive outcome in store for actors, Porter is already dealing with the negatives of the situation.“I have to sell my house. I don’t know when we’re gonna go back [to work],” the “Pose” star, 53, told the Evening Standard.“The life of an artist, until you make f–k-you money, which I haven’t made yet, is still check-to-check,” he added.Porter, who played ballroom emcee Pray Tell in “Pose” from 2018 to 2021, revealed he was gearing up to work on a couple of upcoming projects in September.However, due to the strike, “none of that is happening,” according to Porter.“So to the person who said, ‘We’re going to starve them out until they have to sell their apartments’ — you’ve already starved me out,” Porter told the outlet.The actor’s comments come after it was reported that film execs were willing to “allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” according to Deadline.The newly-single Porter also slammed Disney CEO Bob Iger who said actors’ expectations of treatment are “just not realistic.”“The business has evolved,” Porter said, referring to the streaming era of film and TV.“So the contract has to evolve and change, period.

Billy Porter is fired up and feeling the rage, anger and hurt so many Hollywood creatives are experiencing amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA/WGA strikes.The alum recently sat down for an interview with the — as he is currently in London for work — and he revealed that the strike has taken a toll on him personally, and he's been forced to sell his home here in Los Angeles.«I have to sell my house,» Porter shared. «Because we’re on strike.

Billy Porter has revealed the tough reality of being an actor amid the SAG-AFTRA strike.