NBC vows to resolve SNL labor issue within weeks as new Editors Guild round of talks begins

EXCLUSIVE: Saturday Night Live Labor negotiations continue.

After it appeared that a group of crew members were at work SNL Threatened with strikes over pay and benefits, Deadline understands that the Motion Picture Editors Guild, which represents about 20 of the show’s post-production editors, met with NBCUniversal today to resolve the issue.

We hear that discussions have been held on Zoom where the guild has spoken to network representatives on the west coast. Sources said there was some “give or take” at the meeting, as you might expect, but the issue was not fully resolved.

For its part, NBC has promised to resolve the situation by the end of the month, ahead of a planned strike on April 1 by editors who generally work on pre-taped segments for the venerable late-night comedy series.

We hear that more meetings are already planned for Monday with the next one.

The new round of talks comes after the guild submitted proposals to NBCU in December and NBCU responded on January 13. However, the guild did not find the offer acceptable.

That’s what the Motion Picture Editors Guild said by SNL Editorial teams were paid “well below industry standards” and emphasized that assistant editors in particular were paid “only a fraction” of their union counterparts.

On the one hand, it may seem like a workforce problem for a small part of the population SNL-ers are not a big problem for the network. But on the other hand, it is important to remember that many of the guilds that represent many of the other collaborators are connected, even if not officially, so it is important to come to some kind of agreement.

The other important point is this SNL Stars are starting to get involved. As seen in the February episode hosted by Pedro Pascal, one of the show’s new stars, James Austin Johnson, who is quickly rising through the ranks thanks to his portrayal of Donald Trump, wore a T-shirt that read “Contract Now.” As these stars get harder, this becomes a bigger problem.

From the NBC side, this is still a new problem. As this is a first contract and the staff only joined a union late last year, these things will take time. Generally, these contracts can last months if not a year, so this one moves faster than most.

Differences in the nature of certain employees’ roles and the number of hours they are employed are believed to complicate discussions SNLan important issue as it has health benefits.

They’re also somewhat complicated by the fact that these meetings are on the West Coast for a New York-based show, though admittedly a result of negotiations with NBCUniversal brass and not Lorne Michaels. and his team.