LOS ANGELES — A major breakthrough in the protracted strikes paralyzing Hollywood is a boon for Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who have sought to defuse the fight threatening the state’s signature industry while maintaining public neutrality to appease allies on both sides of the bargaining table.
The top entertainment studios and the union representing screenwriters reached a tentative contract deal Sunday evening, ending the 146-day walkout that exposed deep divisions over income inequality and anxieties over rapid technological change. It still has to be ratified by the rank-and-file.
“California’s entertainment industry would not be what it is today without our world class writers," Newsom said in a statement soon after the guild informed its members of the agreement in principle. "For over 100 days, 11,000 writers went on strike over existential threats to their careers and livelihoods — expressing real concerns over the stress and anxiety workers are feeling. I am grateful that the two sides have come together to reach an agreement that benefits all parties involved, and can put a major piece of California’s economy back to work.”
Bass added in her own statement: “After a nearly five-month long strike, I am grateful that the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have reached a fair agreement and I’m hopeful that the same can happen soon with the Screen Actors Guild."
The agreement came after a four-day marathon bargaining session at the studios’ trade association, located in a Sherman Oaks shopping mall, that involved leading entertainment executives such as Bob Iger of Disney and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos. There, they hammered out deal points including the minimum size of writer’s rooms and payment structure for content on streaming platforms. They also haggled over language governing the use of artificial intelligence, which has been eyed warily by labor across sectors as potentially taking away jobs.
Now, the attention’s on the much-larger actors’ union, which went on strike in July and put their own negotiations on pause as they awaited a deal from the writers.
The dual strikes — the industry’s first in 60 years — were emblematic of this year’s “Hot Labor Summer,” where Los Angeles was an epicenter of a surge in labor action. Picket lines of school employees, hotel workers and entertainers have dotted the city. Nationally, the ongoing walkout by the auto workers has kept labor in the limelight, with both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump planning visits to Michigan this week to show solidarity for the workers.
In Hollywood, the months-long impasse leveled a multi-billion dollar hit on the California economy.
In Los Angeles, permitted movie and television shoots were down 69 percent for the week of Sept. 17 compared to the same time last year, according to FilmLA, a non-profit that serves as the official film office for the city and county of Los Angeles. While some production has continued, such as reality television and non-union independent films, there have been no scripted television programs in production since mid-July. The standstill has slowed the work for related businesses such as caterers and dry-cleaners.
Production will not immediately restart. After members of the Writers Guild of America vote to approve the deal studios must hammer out their own agreement with the actors’ union.
Newsom, who initially said he would intervene only if both sides wanted, had been sounding increasingly optimistic in recent weeks about the prospect of a resolution. He told POLITICO earlier this month that his conversations with the involved parties made him think a deal was nearing.
“At a certain point, we will land this plane,” he said.
Like the governor, Bass has not taken a leading role in the contract talks. The mayor has kept her public statements to a minimum during the nearly-five-month standoff, lest it appear to be a distraction from her top priority: clamping down on Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis.
Still, as rumors of an imminent deal swirled in recent days, Bass weighed in late Friday with a public nudge toward the finish line, exhorting the parties to “get this deal done.”
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