Hollywood writers' strike negotiations to resume next week

Little progress has been made in talks since WGA went on strike in May

Sag-Aftra actors and Writers Guild of America writers on a picket line outside Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California. Reuters

Television studios and writers are expected to resume negotiations next week as production in Hollywood remains stalled during a months-long strike.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said in a statement that the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has contacted the producers to “move negotiations forward”.

“We have agreed and are working to schedule a meeting next week,” the statement read.

“Every member company of the AMPTP is committed and eager to reach a fair deal, and to working together with the WGA to end the strike.”

The WGA confirmed the meeting.

“The WGA and AMPTP are in the process of scheduling a time to get back in the room,” it said.

Little progress in negotiations has been made since Hollywood's writers went on strike on May 2 after the WGA and AMPTP failed to reach a contract agreement.

The two sides held meetings in August that included leaders at Disney, Netflix and Warner Bros. Those talks led nowhere after writers “were met with a lecture about how good their single and only counter-offer was”, they said.

At the heart of the strike is the way streaming services have affected the industry, and how they change the way in which television shows and films are produced and watched.

“Over the past decade, the companies embraced business practices that slashed our compensation and undermined our working conditions. We are asking to restore writer pay and conditions to reflect our value to this industry,” the WGA said in April.

Actors, represented by the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra), joined them in July. It is the first time in six decades that writers and actors have been on strike at the same time.