Can “shouting distance” be traversed in a matter of days?
Showbiz insiders were hopeful at the prospect that the Directors Guild of America could reach a tentative contract pact with the majors as early as this week, after DGA leaders spent Saturday and Sunday in formal contract negotiations with reps for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, Variety reports.
Those talks followed several weeks of highly productive informal conversations between DGA and AMPTP leaders that, by many accounts, narrowed the issues and set the parameters for the formal bargaining seshes.
The AMPTP and DGA have instituted a news blackout until the talks have concluded. It’s understood that headway was made at the weekend sessions, held at AMPTP’s Encino HQ, and the sides will be back at the table today.
Nobody’s saying it explicitly, but the vibe in the biz is that the deadline the AMPTP member companies face for breaking the stalemate with the WGA and getting the town back to work is dictated by the Feb. 24 Academy Awards. If the industry’s biggest and glitziest celebration of itself is torpedoed by labor strife, a la Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards, many predict that the turmoil in showbiz could extend well into the second half of the year.
In an effort to avert such a doomsday scenario, DGA leaders made a point of initiating extensive outreach to AMPTP and their key member companies to come to an understanding about the parameters of the talks and to identify the explosive issues for both sides, so that by the time the sides sat down for formal talks, each would have a deep understanding of the other’s priorities and sensitivities.
DGA exec director Jay Roth and negotiating committee chairman Gil Cates spearheaded these diplomatic missions with Peter Chernin, prexy and chief operating officer of News Corp., and Robert Iger, prexy-CEO of Walt Disney Co. It’s understood that Chernin, Iger and other key AMPTP chiefs met Thursday for an update and strategy sesh prior to setting the start date for DGA talks.
Industry observers were quick to laud the DGA’s approach, and the decision by both sides to channel the informal outreach conversations through just a few people who were empowered to speak for their respective sides. The small group was able to engage in the kind of earnest and frank communication that was sorely lacking in the WGA’s fitful negotiations with the AMPTP, insiders said.
