The two sides had been divided on issues of pay, the size of writing staffs on shows and the use of artificial intelligence in how scripts are created. The agreement, still subject to the approval of union members, was reached Sunday night after five days of lengthy negotiations.
Actors, who joined the writers on strike in July, have their own issues but there have been no discussions about resuming negotiations with their union yet. That is likely to change now.
Here's a look at the key figures who helped reached the agreement, and those who could make the next one.
CAROL LOMBARDINI
Her name is little known outside the industry, and she nearly never speaks to the media, but as head of the opposition in both the writers and actors strikes,
For 14 years, she has led negotiations for studios in contract talks with all of
Since 2009, Lombardini, a lawyer has been president and chief negotiator of the
She grew up in a working class suburb of
A respected if adversarial figure in years past, she become the target of much of strikers' vitriol. She appears often on picket signs and is the subject of many parody social media accounts.
ELLEN STUTZMAN
Stutzman, also an attorney, took over as chief negotiator for the
She still has the title from her previous role: assistant executive director for the
“We would tell the viewers and the public that writers are fighting to have a career, and to have a viable profession, and to continue to create the shows and movies that people in this country and around the world love,” Stutzman told The AP on the first day of the writers strike in May.
Generally regarded as more low key and less combative than Young, Stutzman played a key role in writers' 2019 fight with agents, in which WGA members fired their representatives en masse over plans by
Stutzman graduated from the
THE EXECUTIVES
Lombardini and the AMPTP represent a coalition of more than 350 companies, but as in the entertainment industry itself, a few giants dominate.
Three leaders have come to embody the group:
The trio, along with NBCUniversal chair and chief content officer
A similar effort by the same foursome to restart talks a month earlier had quickly sputtered, with the writers guild saying they were lectured to rather than bargained with.
As chief executive of entertainment’s biggest behemoth, Disney’s Iger would always have been a target for strikers. But a new contract reportedly worth more than
The industry's shift to a streaming model is behind most of the issues that led to the strikes.
As CEO of Warner-Discovery, Zaslav, for strikers, embodies the entertainment executive who shifts away from elite creative programming toward reality TV and other less vaunted programming, most manifest on Max, the streaming service that under his watch dropped “HBO” from its name.
Before the strikes began he was already scorned by many on the creative side for shelving nearly finished projects like “Batgirl” and turning them into tax write-offs.
FRAN DRESCHER
Drescher was re-elected
She shook the leadership reins of
“When you speak from the heart, people are so responsive,” Drescher told The AP. “Because I guess they see a lot of people that don’t. And so it kind of cuts through the noise when it does.”
Drescher was born, raised and went to community college in
She became a household name when she co-created and starred in “The Nanny.” The series ran on
WRITING PRESIDENTS
As always, writers toil in (relative) anonymity compared to the famous actors they write scripts for. Drescher's less-known counterparts on the writers' side — technically two unions that unite for negotiations and strikes — are
Stiehm is the Emmy-winning creator of the early 2000s
Both women will serve two year terms, and now may be able to put down their picket signs and pick up their pens again.
DUNCAN CRABTREE-IRELAND
Crabtree-Ireland, who has worked for the guild for more than 20 years, became its national executive director and chief negotiator shortly after Drescher took office.
He took an unlikely path to get there. Born in
“I get asked to talk to law students about careers from time to time, and I always preface the story by saying I can’t, I don’t encourage you to try to replicate this because I’ve no idea how it happened,” Crabtree-Ireland told the AP in an interview. “I never thought I’d be here.”
He would be tested quickly after getting the job. The first contract talks for film and TV actors under his role as chief negotiator resulted in their first strike in more than 40 years.
His return to the negotiating table now appears to be imminent.
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