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While workers across the entertainment industry waited for word
of the outcome, no agreement was announced as the strike reached
its 144th day.
The WGA said in a statement early on Saturday that the two sides
would meet again on Saturday.
Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Warner
Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Donna Langley, chairman of
Comcast's NBCUniversal Studio Group, took part in the talks with
the Writers Guild of America (WGA) for a third day.
Representatives for the Alliance of Motion Picture and
Television Producers, which represents the studios, had no
comment.
While the two sides met, union members turned out in large
numbers in response to an appeal from WGA negotiators on
Thursday to flood picket lines outside the studios.
In the crowd outside Netflix on Friday was "Mad Men" creator and
writer Matthew Weiner, who like others voiced optimism that the
recent talks signaled progress was being made.
"I'm hopeful," Weiner said of the possibility that the strike
could be coming to an end. "I would like to go back to work and
I would like to start mending these relationships."
Roughly 11,500 WGA members walked off the job in May, demanding
higher pay and residuals in the streaming TV era plus limits
around the use of artificial intelligence.
Producer and WGA member Al Septien, also picketing outside
Netflix on Friday, said he wanted to get back to work, but only
under the right terms.
"We've been out here a long time. We don't want to fold for a
less-than-fair and good contract for the writers,” he said.
The SAG-AFTRA actors union also is on strike after walking off
the job in July.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine, Dawn Chemielewski and Sandra
Stojanovic in Los Angeles; additional reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh;
Editing by Shri Navaratnam and William Mallard)
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