EXCLUSIVE: For some writer-producers, the passion over going again to work this week was dampened by the information that their total offers, suspended throughout the WGA strike, are being reinstated however not prolonged. Nowhere has this been extra prevalent than Universal Studio Group, which incorporates Universal Television and UCP.
The firm has reinstated all of its writing and non-writing producers however didn’t prolong the time period on any of the offers, I’ve realized. This doesn’t affect mega UTV/UCP producers resembling Dick Wolf and Seth MacFarlane, whose offers had been by no means suspended as they labored on non-struck reveals all through the strike. It additionally barely impacts non-writing producers like NBCU staple Lorne Michaels whose pacts had been suspended for simply a few weeks.
It is the writers who’re most affected as their offers had been suspended for the complete five-month period of the WGA work stoppage. That interprets into lots of of hundreds and, in some circumstances, hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of earnings they received’t get with out an extension, and I hear lots of them usually are not comfortable.
Term offers don’t robotically prolong after a strike-related suspension. The studios have the choice to try this at their discretion in a so-called “suspend & extend” transfer the place the size of the suspension is added on the finish of the deal’s time period.
That is what most different studios and streamers have been doing this week, making extension choices on a case-by-case foundation.
According to sources, USG opted for a uniform coverage throughout the portfolio, adhering to all offers’ authentic phrases whereas specializing in renewing these the studios need to stay in enterprise with. I hear that began about six months earlier than the WGA strike when Universal TV and UCP initiated renewal conversations with showrunners whose pacts expire in 2023. Some offers had been accomplished earlier than the May 2 begin of the writers strike; the remainder of the negotiations are being picked up now, within the wake of the strike coming to an finish Wednesday.
For total agreements ending in 2024 and 2025, the studios are anticipated to reengage nearer to their expiration date with those that will probably be provided renewals. A rep for USG declined remark.
While USG is the one studio to go for a blanket “no extension” coverage — which does save a major amount of cash for father or mother NBCUniversal as there will probably be no five-month funds beneath present offers’ phrases — components of the technique are being utilized by different studios.
As Deadline reported earlier this week, Warner Bros TV, which is believed to have been the primary studio to ship out reinstatement letters to its writing and non-writing producers Wednesday, prolonged quite a few showrunners, together with its largest names, whereas additionally opting to not prolong a good portion of its suspended offers — as many as half, I hear. According to sources, largely impacted are pacts ending in 2025 and past, with the studio, like USG, taking a wait-and-see method to judge how the expertise performs earlier than making a call. I hear within the case of WBTV, exercising an extension choice afterward for among the offers is a chance.
Additionally, I hear most of Sony’s reinstatement letters didn’t include an extension/no extension clause, with the studio saying these will probably be topic of future conversations.
Streamers, which have largely prolonged their overalls (Amazon Studios simply began sending the majority of its notifications so there’s not sufficient info on them). Other conventional studios even have handed out a slew of extensions this week however have additionally completed some choosing and selecting.
Across the board, studios and streamers haven’t granted extensions to offers they weren’t planning to resume, which expired throughout the strike or are expiring quickly.
Also, it’s price noting that there have been no recognized total or first-look deal terminations throughout the current strike, which was not the case throughout the 2007-2008 WGA work stoppage.