According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Writers Guild of America is to meet with showrunners on Friday. The WGA strike is about to reach its 20th week and many showrunners have united to show solidarity at Fox in Los Angeles. While this is happening some of the industry’s highest creators are scheduling to meet with the WGA to leaders on Friday for an update on where current negotiations stand.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, some sources state that Kenya Barris (Black-ish), Noah Hawley (Fargo), and Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) are some of the few who have sought to meet with the WGA negotiation committee co-chair Chris Keyser (Party of Five). Many sources have told THR that many of the top showrunners are set to meet this Friday with the guild to show support and help them acquire new Minimum Basic Agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
One source who has relationships with both studios and showrunners said, “There’s a large sentiment among top showrunners who are saying this can’t be a zero-sum game. People are willing to get 70 percent to 80 percent of the way there and make a deal.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the WGA has addressed the showrunners gathering in a recent meeting with strike captains. In the meeting, the union had communicated that Barris and Hawley were searching for information from the negotiation committee. Initially, the strike captain did not believe it was a good idea to meet with Barris and the company but now they decided to move forward with the meeting on Friday.
Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan (Just Shoot Me!) had told THR at Fox, “I, like everybody, am frustrated with how long this has been dragging on, but there’s an enormous amount of solidarity here. That’s the important message to take from today is that while people are hurting and people are frustrated, they are united and they are strong in fighting for what we feel we deserve. I don’t think anybody is really second guessing and looking for ways to cause some disruption in the leadership of the guild. We’re just always trying to see if there are any way anybody can help.”
Another showrunner who was among the hundreds to turn out at Fox on Tuesday also added that, “There’s a deal to be made … The AMPTP is in disagreement internally about what they’re willing to compromise on. We know what we’re willing to compromise on but we haven’t gotten into that because they countered once in 130 days. That’s not an act of negotiation. Everybody on negotiating committee feels the weight of the entire business on them right now. It’s not just WGA, it’s SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, support staff, catering companies and restaurants… Most writers are having a hard time, not just financially. We all thought this would be over by Labor Day.”