Movie and television writers are, overall, delighted with how things turned out in the recent contract negotiations with the studios.þþÿI think that we got everything that we really, really wanted,ÿ Writers Guild East president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen told the still-striking performers at a rally in New York for the actors union SAG-AFTRA a few days ago. ÿWe didn't get everything, and you guys won't either. But I think you're gonna get most of it.ÿþþAs SAG-AFTRA leaders head into talks Monday with the big Hollywood studios, the union's members are hoping for as favorable a deal as the writers union managed to secure with the studios last week. But the months of strikes may not be over as fast as some people think.þþÿWe've got a great negotiating team,ÿ said actor Jeff Rector, whose credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation and American Horror Story among many other films and TV shows over a career spanning more than 40 years. ÿHopefully it will be resolved rather quickly now that the writers strike has been resolved.ÿþþEntertainment industry experts are also hopeful about a speedy end to the strikes, which began in May with the writers union, the Writers Guild of America (WGA). The actors union went on strike in July. (Note: Many NPR employees are members of SAG-AFTRA, though journalists work under a different contract than the Hollywood actors.)þþÿThe fact that this deal has been reached, I think really bodes well moving forward for SAG-AFTRA,ÿ said Todd Holmes, assistant professor of entertainment media management at California State University Northridge.þþHolmes said the actors union should feel encouraged by the writers' wins, like higher residuals and protections against being replaced by artificial intelligence.þþÿThis is what you would call 'pattern bargaining,' where usually one deal is worked out with one union, and then when the other union has a lot of similar things that they've been asking for, then that usually falls in line pretty quickly and agreement is reached,ÿ Holmes said.
Source: npr.org
