The Writers Guild of America for the first time has explicitly said it will indeed strike this year if its current contract expires May 1 without a renewed deal in place with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The statement appears likely to escalate tensions over the possibility of a walkout.
"In the event that we are unable to negotiate a new contract with the AMPTP, a work stoppage will begin May 2nd," said the guild in a letter sent Tuesday to media buyers. "Should this occur, writing for television, feature films and digital series will cease."
Five days of negotiations are scheduled to begin Monday. WGA member meetings and an online strike authorization vote are set for April 18-24, which would then leave just a few days until contract expiration. (The Guild leadership doesn’t have the power to call a strike unless it prevails in the strike authorization balloting, but that result is virtually assured.)
The letter also for the first time publicly places a dollar figure on the WGA’s contract demands. "We estimate that our current proposals would cost a total of $178 million over the entire industry," the letter states. "The combined cost to the six largest firms is $117 million."
It then breaks down the estimate as follows: CBS $16.0 million; Disney $21.20 million; Fox $25.45 million; NBC $17.90 million; Sony $12.80 million; Time Warner $27.40 million; Viacom $9.79 million; other producers $47.74 million; and total $178.28 million. The breakdown says, and the guild confirmed, that these are annual costs.