Posted in: Movies, streaming, TV | Tagged: amptp, DGA, SAG-AFTRA, wga

AMPTP Offer "Met Virtually All" of SAG-AFTRA Goals: WBD David Zaslav

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said AMPTP's "Last, Best & Final" offer to SAG-AFTRA "met virtually all of the union’s goals."

As SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP prepare to meet again later today in hopes of reaching a deal on a new three-year contract that would end the 118-day-long strike, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav shared his thoughts on the negotiations between the union and the studios & streamers. "Let me start by saying that we are hopeful we will reach a resolution to the SAG-AFTRA strike. We made a last and final offer, which met virtually all of the union's goals, and includes the highest wage increase in 40 years, and I believe it provides for a positive outcome for all involved," Zaslav shared at the top of the company's earnings call earlier today. "We recognize that we need our creative partners to feel valued and rewarded and look forward to both sides getting back to the business of telling great stories." Zaslav is a member of a group of leaders from four AMPTP member groups who've been actively involved during the talks – along with NBCUniversal's Donna Langley, Disney's Bob Iger, and Netflix's Ted Sarandos. The company's CFO, Gunnar Weidenfels, added how the strike will impact the 2024 production calendar remains to be unseen. "As we begin to formulate the initial framework for the TV production business getting back to work into 2024, there is simply a lot we don't know yet," Weidenfels explained during the call. "We have every confidence that this will eventually work itself out throughout the next year. And there should be an eventual tailwind from the end of the work stoppage. This is an evolving process. And there is a real risk at this point that some negative financial impact of the strike will extend into 2024."

Last Wednesday night, SAG-AFTRA messaged its members to inform them that they had met that day "to discuss and finalize our response to the AMPTP AI counter-proposal" that the union received from the AMPTP on Tuesday. "The negotiators then met with AMPTP representatives for more than three hours" on Wednesday afternoon and evening "to present and review our revised proposal." SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee added in their update that it was still awaiting "the AMPTP's response to our comprehensive counter proposal package, which we gave them on Saturday, addressing outstanding issues." And that brought us to Thursday – with no response from the AMPTP leading to no formal talks between SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland's and AMPTP President Carol Lombardini's teams. However, additional reporting on Friday revealed that "conversations" did take place between the union and the studios & streamers on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, the studios & streamers submitted what it called its "Last, Best, and Final Offer" – which the union spent Saturday, Sunday & part of Monday reviewing before offering a response later on Monday. Since that time, formal and side conversations have been taking place between both sides – leading us to Wednesday.

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