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EXCLUSIVE: Amid growing speculation of internal divisions within the C-suites and a lack of any apparent path forward to end the writers and actors strikes, the chiefs of Hollywood’s biggest studios are set to gather today.

SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee said Sunday it “remains ready at a moment’s notice to go back to the bargaining table to secure a righteous deal” to end the actors’ strike, which is now in its 46th day. “Unfortunately, as we’ve seen from the recent news out of the WGA negotiations, it appears the AMPTP is still unwilling to make the concessions necessary to make a fair deal that would bring the strikes to a close.”

Coming out of the public relations week from hell, the studios and streamers are looking for the firm that fought off Pizzagate to help them in the war of words against the striking Writers Guild.

The Writers Guild said today that the AMPTP’s latest counteroffer for a new contract “is neither nothing, nor nearly enough.”

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.

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Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America met Friday with the major studios for the first negotiating session since May, and received a new package of proposals. The WGA told members in an email that it would respond to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers next week.

After their first day of bargaining since the Writers Guild went on strike May 2, the AMPTP and the WGA have recessed their negotiations until next week after the companies made a counterproposal to guild’s proposals.

The WGA and the AMPTP have agreed to resume bargaining for a deal that could end the guild’s ongoing strike.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America will resume negotiations with the studios on Friday, the guild told members in an email. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is set to deliver a response to the guild’s proposals, the union said.

Editors note: One in a series of stories marking the 100th day of the WGA strike.

Trustees of the DGA Pension & Health Plans have approved a free major medical plan for participants who lose coverage because of the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Meeting for the first time in more than three months, the Writers Guild and the AMPTP on Friday failed to reach an agreement to resume contract negotiations. Their inability to agree on terms for returning to the bargaining table comes after their much anticipated meeting to discuss a possible resumption of talks.  

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass weighed in again on the writers and actors strikes that have shut down much of production in the region, telling the sides that she stands “ready to personally engage” to reach a resolution.

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

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America is continuing to downplay expectations for Friday’s meeting with the studios, and is telling members that it will not be pressured into accepting a bad deal. Ellen Stutzman, the WGA’s chief negotiator, is scheduled to meet Friday with the head of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. It will be the first formal meeting between the two sides since the writers went on strike on May 1.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery reported the Hollywood writers and actors’ ongoing work stoppage had brought the company savings in the “low$100 million range” during its Q2 earnings results call Thursday. “We’re in the business of storytelling.

News broadcasters aren’t on strike, but their SAG-AFTRA steering committee is standing behind the actors and performers who are. “The world is watching,” the committee said in a statement Wednesday, and urged a “quick and productive resolution to the strike.”

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Leaders of the Writers Guild of America expressed cautious optimism on Wednesday about a move to resume bargaining, but said they are still ready to stay on strike over the long haul. The head of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers called the WGA’s chief negotiator on Tuesday to set up a Friday meeting to discuss how to proceed.

In the wake of yesterday’s upbeat news that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the WGA are heading back for talks this Friday, SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland says that as far as actors go, it’s still crickets from the producers.

There’s movement!

Variety on Tuesday. That is the first communication between the two sides since May 1, when talks collapsed and the WGA voted to go on strike. The WGA informed its members of the outreach from AMPTP to Ellen Stutzman, the WGA’s chief negotiator, on Tuesday evening.

Fran Drescher boarded the bus and has landed at her first picket line on the first day of the actors strike.

EXCLUSIVE: Regardless of whether SAG-AFTRA goes on strike this week, the studios have no intention of sitting down with the Writers Guild for several more months.

Last minute calls are being made by Hollywood chiefs to try and prevent an actors strike.

More than 50 Democratic members of the New York state legislature, reminding the AMPTP that companies it represents are the beneficiaries of “hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits” every year, are calling on the studios to return to the bargaining table with the Writers Guild and make a deal to end the month-long strike.

EXCLUSIVE: With the clock ticking and writers out on the picket lines all over town, the Directors Guild of America and the studios are far from even the framework of a deal.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer If Hollywood’s labor drama were a script, this would be the start of Act Two. On Wednesday, as writers walk picket lines outside the major studios, the Directors Guild of America will sit down for its negotiations on a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. A deal — if they are able to reach one — could help resolve the writers strike. That’s what happened 15 years ago, when the Writers Guild of America was on strike and the directors went in for their contract negotiations. Leveraging the pressure of an industry-wide work stoppage that was in its third month, the DGA secured milestone agreements for unfettered jurisdiction over the internet and a residual formula for what was then quaintly known as “new media” exploitation of movies and TV shows.

EXCLUSIVE: “This is about setting the course for the industry for the future,” said Directors Guild of America chief Lesli Linka Glatter today on the guild upcoming talks with studios and the WGA strike that stated this week. “We’re in a team sport. We’re only as good as our teams.”

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer To a lot of people outside the negotiating room, a strike by Hollywood writers felt inevitable. But it didn’t feel that way inside the room. Until the last day or two, negotiators for both labor and management believed that the other side would give, and that a deal would be reached at the last moment. But picket lines in Los Angeles and New York this week tell a different story. The conflict that led to the breakdown of talks on the night of May 1 began the day before. On April 30, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers delivered a 40-page package of proposals to WGA’s negotiating committee. It did not include key elements that the Writers Guild of America has insisted are essential to sealing a new three-year contract, including a mandatory minimum number of weeks for TV writers and a minimum staff size for writers rooms.

EXCLUSIVE: While the Writers Guild of America will continue to negotiate with the studios right up to the expiration of their current contact on May 1, strike preparations are underway — but Hollywood might not see picket lines as quickly as you think.

EXCLUSIVE: The current Writers Guild of America contract expires in just over 48 hours, and the scribes and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers are taking it down to the wire in hopes of reaching an agreement.

Picket signs are being prepared to possibly hit the streets next week, but talks between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers appear to have taken a productive turn in the past 24 hours.

“We’re optimistic that we can that we can get through this in a way that’s fair to all parties,” said Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav today of  negotiations between the Writers Guild and the studios and risk of a strike by the scribes.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America officially began negotiations on Monday with the studios, as the union seeks to increase compensation and set minimum standards for the size and duration of writers rooms. Over the decades, bargaining has become a highly ritualized process, with each step carefully scripted. The guild has already told members that the initial round of talks will last for two weeks. At that point, the WGA will advise the membership on “what next steps we believe are necessary,” said writer-director Kay Cannon in a video posted on Friday. If it’s anything like the last contentious negotiation, in 2017, the guild will seek a strike authorization vote, which would give negotiators leverage for the final round of talks.