With no return to the negotiating table yet on the cards, both of the striking US film unions have issued statements urging members to maintain their resolve.
The calls came as the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike passed the 100-day mark, the point at which the last writers strike, in 2008, ended.
A statement from WGA negotiating committee members Chris Keyser and David Goodman said the strike’s duration “serves only as a milestone of shame for the AMPTP [the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers]. They and their member studios are wholly responsible for the over three month shutdown of the industry and the pain it has caused workers and all others whose livelihoods depends on this business.”
Until the studios “make a fair deal,” the statement went on, “we remain resolved and united.”
WGA representatives met with the AMPTP last Friday (August 4) but the meeting has not so far resulted in a date for the resumption of formal negotiations.
As the strike by members of the actors guild SAG-AFTRA reached the end of its fourth week, guild president Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland posted a message on the organisation’s web site telling members that “Your determination will carry us to victory.”
The post insisted that the AMPTP has “refused to negotiate with us fairly, and have not contacted us to resume talks.”
The post also defended SAG-AFTRA’s strategy of granting interim agreements to independent productions allowing them to continue during the strike. The agreements strategy has recently been questioned by some guild members.
The agreements, wrote Drescher and Crabtree-Ireland, “are quite literally the opposite of ‘waivers.’ There are no passes, exceptions or exemptions being given to anyone. Productions must agree to all our terms or that work is struck.”
“These agreements are also designed to undermine the production slates and timing of the AMPTP companies and ensure that they come back to the table.”
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