Producers listen to WGA and DGA talks at PGA Awards: ‘Because of the strike, we’re in no rush to film anything’

While both the WGA and DGA are in talks to negotiate a contract with the AMPTP, producers at last night’s PGA Awards took a wait-and-see attitude.

Much of this has to do with the fact that the WGA has not yet finalized its requirement pattern with discussions from 20 March. Her contract expires on May 1, and that of DGA and SAG-AFTRA on June 30.

As in the past, the studios are preparing for a possible strike, but there is no real sense of urgency, at least not now.

“We’re getting as many scripts as we can on time and we’re not in a rush and we’ve planned our productions for the summer and fall and we’re pretty optimistic about what’s ahead. creative by us,” said Pamela Abdy, co-chairman of Warner Bros., who shared last night’s PGA Milestone Award with co-chairman Michael De Luca.

“I’m always in a hurry to save projects, I’m a producer! We do,” PGA President Donald De Line said when asked about the impact of a strike on producers. “I know that the possible deadline of a strike puts more pressure on us.”

The Done, player one The producer added: “We want to educate our members about what the issues are and how to prepare, but they need to be forward thinking about how to prepare.”

Producer Jonathan Wang, whose Everything, everywhere, all at once last night won the best picture award at the PGAs and watched directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert win the DGA best feature award last weekend he commented, as much as he would like, on one of the three projects of the Advancing directors/writers at Universal, “we also support people who earn a living wage and people who are able to work and go on strike.”

“That’s why unions exist,” he added. “As a producer, I want to be honest, but I also want us to get going.”

While the Daniels is focused on the big screen and Universal is “really committed to the theater experience,” Wang pointed out, “streaming is obviously important because of the downstream impact of what it means to viewers.”

Glass onion: a knife out Producer Ram Bergman sounded hopeful despite a possible strike.

“I think even if there is a strike, it won’t be a long strike,” he said. “At least I hope so. We’re in no rush to shoot anything because of the strike.”

Bergman’s creative partner, director Rian Johnson, is currently focused on writing the third part of the Netflix series knife out Franchise with no immediate plans to begin filming this year.

The longest strike in WGA history was in 1988 at 153 days, while the 2007-2008 strike lasted 100 days. A WGA member meeting on Thursday on the west coast and east coast drew a total of almost 3,000 participants.

At last weekend’s DGA Awards, guild president Lesli Linka Glatter vowed to “fly like hell” to win a fair film and TV deal. It has previously been reported that DGA will not be first at the negotiating table, as it has been in previous contract talks over the past three cycles. Usually, on important issues, the union sets the table with studios first, followed by other guilds.

Other directors in attendance at the DGA Awards were pretty upfront about their needs up until Deadline, citing the need for more residuals in the streaming era, and filmmakers like Judd Apatow calling for the reform of ” creative rights issues”, particularly “how much time””. Directors working in television can edit their episodes For others, structural changes to support women and filmmakers of color were essential at the DGA, in addition to safety concerns.

Director Darren Aronofsky, whose film The whale has three Oscar nominations, told Deadline last night: “It’s an extremely complicated time, the world has changed so much.”

“I believe DGA has always thought deeply about honest ways to keep up with new technologies and new business,” he added. “I firmly believe the guild will end up in a good place.”

Nellie Andreeva contributed to this report.