Carol Lombardini is the president of The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television
Producers (AMPTP). Lombardini is in the position of negotiating all of the contracts for the
entertainment industry unions. The Writers Guild of America went on strike on May 2, 2023
which caused a halt in the industry. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television
and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) soon followed on July 13, 2023 which caused a major pause
on several movies and shows. These strikes are estimated to cost the industry around a $3
billion reduction in production.
An overwhelming majority of the WGA voted for a list of requirements to mend these
contract negotiations. These requirements include: “increased wages, better residuals for
streaming shows, staffing requirements, protections from Artificial Intelligence (AI) job
interferences, and diversity.” They also want to change the abuse of “mini rooms,” which TV
shows are written in smaller rooms for less periods of time. There are claims that the AMPTP
will force the writers to lose all of their money by elongating these negotiations until the writers
go broke. The AMPTP has denied these allegations. There is a lot of tension between the
CEO’s/AMPTP and the unions. But the AMPTP has come to an agreement with the Directors
Guild of America (DGA) by giving them “wage increases, better residuals, and some protections
against Artificial Intelligence.” On August 4th the WGA met up with studios but could not agree
on a contract.
Alternative 1: If demands are not met then the film industry will be in a lot of trouble.
Lombardini has only agreed to help out the WGA with two of their many demands. In order to
make amends of this situation more demands must be met. The WGA’s two biggest priorities
are increased wages/better residuals and the “mini rooms.” In order for the film industry to not
go under at least one of these demands must be met. Better pay/increased residuals will most
likely be the better choice because either you pay writers more or lose more money overall
because no work is being done. Yes it will be hard because not all of their demands are being
met but this is a very generous offer.
Alternative 2: These writing room demands must be met in order to keep the writers happy. If
most of the writers cannot get work because the industry is being gatekept to cut costs then of
course they will strike. Span protection may seem necessary because many of the writers work
well past their normal working hours to meet these quotas for episodes to come out. The “mini
rooms” are a big deal to the writers because they need more people and time to get the best
work that they can do. The challenges for this alternative is that it will cost money so it will be
difficult to get the writers better pay and residuals.
Alternative 1 is the best choice because money is the main reason that anyone goes on strike.
Yes there are a lot of other demands that could be addressed but better pay/residuals will make
them feel like they are getting compensated properly and get more work done.