Consider This from NPR - WGA Reached A Tentative Deal With Studios. But The Strike Isn't Over Yet

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

146 days.That's how long it took for the WGA to reach a tentative agreement with major Hollywood studios.WGA leadership is scheduled to vote Tuesday on accepting the new three-year deal. They'll pass it on to the guild's entire membership for ratification. It will take longer for the WGA membership to learn the details and vote. While this is happening, actors are still on the picket line. SAG-AFTRA hasn't reached an agreement yet.Until then, writers say they will stand in solidarity with actors, which means many TV shows and movies won't be resuming production right away. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Kim Masters, The Hollywood Reporter's editor, about the WGA's new deal and what it means for the industry at large as actors continue to strike.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University performs breakthrough research every year, making discoveries that improve human health, combat climate change, and move society forward. More at iu.edu slash forward. Hey, hey! Oh, oh! This corporate greed has got to go! Hey, hey! After 146 days, What do we want? Contract! What do we want? nearly five months on the picket line,

Day or night, day or night, you don't cross the picket line! The Writers Guild of America reached a tentative deal Sunday night on a new contract with major Hollywood studios. Screenwriters have been waiting for this moment. They celebrated the news and posted videos to social media. We got a deal! The dust hasn't settled quite yet, though. WGA leadership is scheduled to vote Tuesday on accepting the new deal, passing it on to the Guild's entire membership for ratification.

It'll take longer for WGA members to learn the details and vote, so writers are not going back to work quite yet. Talk shows like The Drew Barrymore Show and Real Time with Bill Maher had announced plans to return to new episodes last week, but they wound up standing down amid a significant backlash. That is NPR TV critic and media analyst Eric Deggans. So, as we enter into the fall season, not all the shows you have been anticipating will resume production right away, but some may be coming back soon.

The trade magazine Variety published a story on Sunday night that quoted unnamed producers saying that late night TV shows, which suspended their production when the strike started about 146 days ago, they might come back as soon as next week. That's because the hosts of these shows aren't covered by the actor strike, though you probably won't see performers appearing on talk shows to push major movies or TV shows until the actor strike is also settled. That is because actors who belong to SAG-AFTRA have not negotiated and agreed on a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. I think the hope is that the WGA agreement would provide a strong starting point for

negotiations with the Actors Guild. I think a lot of the details on how these shows might come back depends on whether the WGA allows members to work before the agreement is fully ratified by its membership and how the Writers Guild will support the actors still on strike. I mean, can WGA members cross a SAG picket line to work? Well, whether or not writers will cross the picket line, screenwriters like Brian Nelson say they will continue to stand alongside actors on the SAG-AFTRA picket line. Whatever deal we make may be the template for other deals going forward, specifically, of course, the next people in line being SAG-AFT after. Consider this. The WGA has reached a tentative agreement that could end a months-long strike. How will the deal address their demands? And what will it mean for the industry

and the actors who are continuing their strike? From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. It's Monday, September 25th. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today, or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University performs breakthrough research every year, making discoveries that improve human health, combat climate change, and move society forward. More at iu.edu forward. It's Consider This from NPR.

The Writers Guild has called the working agreement, quote, exceptional with meaningful gains and protections. To talk more about how the WGA got to this deal and what it means moving forward, we are joined by The Hollywood Reporter's Editor-at-Large, Kim Masters. Hey there, Kim. Hey there. Okay, so there's a lot we don't know that's not yet public. From what you understand, sketch out what are the key points of this agreement? Yeah, we don't know for sure, but we believe the writers made big gains in terms of three key demands. They wanted minimum staffing guarantees for the writers' rooms, which had been pared down in recent history. They wanted compensation and success on the streamers. Right now, they don't know the data of how things perform, and they don't get extra money if there is a success because they can't document things. And the big, big issue too, it was artificial intelligence. Writers do not want

to be handed a script generated by AI and told to give it a polish. Yeah, and I know that was the very last thing they were haggling over. Still, you know, as they continue to iron out the language on this, the Writers' Union does sound quite excited about it, quite thrilled with the outcome. What about the group representing film and TV studios? Are they equally enthusiastic? I doubt it. They've been going through a really, really hard time. They're in this moment of transition from the old way, which was the cable bundle, and they could make a lot of money from these cable providers. They are in the middle of this really difficult transition. Streaming is costing them so much.

They're hemorrhaging money, except for Netflix, all the other Disney, Paramount, they're all losing millions and millions of dollars on streaming. They haven't figured out yet how to survive really in a streaming world. But more and more people are cutting the cord with the cable bundles. So, you know, this is a very difficult time for the studios and their stock has been challenged. It's been really, really hard. Do we know what finally changed to bring about a deal after, as I said, nearly 150 days of standoff? Yeah, well, I think the studios finally came to a point of understanding that, you know, this had gone on too long.

I think they believed that if it went on much longer, the industry itself would suffer permanent damage, irreversible damage. I mean, if you want to hold on to the money still coming from the cable bundle, it's not great to have no new shows. If you want people to go back to the theaters, it's not great to have a sudden dry spell of movies. So they became really, somehow the penny dropped and they thought, well, we really need to get this thing resolved. And they set about doing it. Does this tentative deal to end the writers' strike portend anything for the actors who are still on strike? Their picket line continues. Yes.

I think the studios are going to try to go very quickly to SAG-AFTRA and come up with a deal. And I will note that both you and I to SAG-AFTRA and come up with a deal. And I will note that both you and I are SAG-AFTRA members. And I will note we are governed by a different contract, so we are not striking, but SAG-AFTRA does represent the actors. And they surely are combing through this to see if there's anything that might help their cause. Oh, absolutely. I mean, they are going to hope that the pattern set by the Writers Guild will apply to a lot of concerns that the actors have, especially artificial intelligence. It's a slightly different concern. The actors are worried about their image being used in ways that they are not comfortable with.

So if the Writers Guild came up with really strong language on artificial intelligence, that might help a lot with the screen actors. I do want to ask about some of the other parties who've been affected by this strike. You know, makeup artists, all the other people working in Hollywood in this industry. Do we know what this deal might mean for them? Well, of course, everybody's desperate to get back to work. I mean, a lot of people have really suffered. There have been food banks, fundraisers to help people through. I mean, a lot of people have really suffered. There have been food banks, fundraisers to help people through. I mean, a lot of people don't work that much or don't make enough in today's changing world to survive. And that applies also to a lot of people.

And there's also a problem for all the crew and all these businesses that provide services to the studios. It's been hugely destructive, losing billions of dollars. And I think that the sooner people get back to work, the better it's going to be for everybody. So bottom line for me, and I'm sure I speak for many with binge TV habits that have been suffering in solidarity alongside, are we going to see a return to production soon? Well, we can't say for sure because there's no Screen Actors Guild deal. And there is also the ratification that has to take place by the Writers Guild. Although I think the studios feel like the writers could go back during the ratification period and maybe work. It's not quite clear yet how that's going to happen.

And last thing, just give us a sense of, does the air feel a little lighter, brighter out there today? Does this give any sense of hope after what has been a really long summer? Yes, well, it is Yom Kippur, which many people in Hollywood observe. But definitely, there was such relief. There's a bar in North Hollywood where a lot of members of the Writers Guild gathered yesterday evening into the wee hours. And from what I am hearing, it was a very raucous, upbeat celebration. They feel like they've had a big win here. That was Kim Masters, The Hollywood Reporter's editor-at-large and host of KCRW's The Business.

If you like what you are hearing on Consider This, check out All Things Considered. It's our afternoon news show. It's got the news you need at the end of your day, along with context and analysis you will want to hear. Visit npr.org slash allthingsconsidered to stream it live every afternoon. It's Consider This. From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly.