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Writers demonstrate in front of Netflix on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California during the Writers Guild of America strike on May 2, 2023.

Frederic J Brown | Afp | Getty Images

Hollywood producers have reached a tentative agreement with film and TV directors, but that doesn’t mean we should expect a sudden resolution of the writers’ strike or talks with the actors’ union.

On Sunday, the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers tentatively agreed on a three-year deal that would give the 19,000-member union salary and benefit increases, increases in global streaming balances and protections against the use of films artificial Intelligence.

The DGA contract expires on June 30th. The guild will present the proposal to its members on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Writers Guild of America enters the second month of its strike. Likewise, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists are close to authorizing a possible strike if negotiations fail. Those talks begin on Wednesday.

The WGA has been on strike since May 2 and has halted dozens of television and film productions as talks with producers stalled.

Already Netflix has postponed the start of production of the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” Warner Brothers’ discoveries Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Night of the Hedgehogs has closed its writer’s room, and Disney and Marvel’s Thunderbolts and Blade have paused production.

During the last writers’ strike in 2007 and 2008, which lasted 100 days, a studio deal with the DGA prompted writers to return to the negotiating table. This time, however, that may not be the case.

“We congratulate the DGA negotiating committee on a deal that it will recommend to its national board for approval and then presumably forward to its members for ratification,” the WGA negotiating committee wrote in a memo to members Sunday.

The committee said it would not comment on the contract terms of DGA’s new contract, noting that its negotiating positions remain the same.

“Last week we sent an email saying that the AMPTP divide and conquer strategy won’t work this time,” the memo reads. “The AMPTP will not be able to negotiate a deal for writers with anyone but us.”

The committee also said it stood in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA, which is finalizing its vote on Monday to authorize the strike.

SAG-AFTRA officials did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The WGA memo echoes comments by WGA negotiator Chris Keyser on Friday when he was providing a public update via YouTube a month after the strike began.

“Any deal that gets this town back to work goes right through the WGA, and there’s no getting around that,” he said.

Keyser also expressed that the WGA strike had already “inflicted highly effective pain” on companies, noting that the refusal to work combined with public picketing showed the union’s determination to “get the contract we deserve.” “.

The AI ​​fight

In DGA’s agreement, directors secured wage increases starting at 5% in the first year, an increase in balances from streaming, and a guarantee that artificial intelligence could not replace the duties performed by members.

AI has been a major problem for both writers’ and actors’ guilds, who find their jobs particularly vulnerable to this new technology.

In their negotiations, both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are striving for protection against the use of AI and an increase in remuneration for streamed content. The WGA also calls for minimum staffing levels for television writers’ rooms and more competitive minimum wages for the work.

The WGA is less concerned about being replaced by AI systems and more concerned that production companies will use these technological tools to drive down writers’ salaries.

SAG-AFTRA has recognized that AI technology can have its benefits in the industry, but wants to ensure that any use of AI to replicate an actor or create a new performance is done with the actor’s consent and payment. The Guild has similar guard rails when it comes to capturing computer generated imagery.

Some artists, such as James Earl Jones, have already agreed to have their voices cloned for use after their death. 91-year-old Jones embodied the famous voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars series and tried to step away from the role. Jones was compensated and the technology was used to bring Vader’s iconic voice to Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The Actors Guild has also made it clear that its bargaining benefits all of its members, not just the big stars. For tens of thousands of professionals, health insurance, compensation and final payments are top priorities.

The SAG-AFTRA vote on strike authorization closes Monday at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Lengths of pipe wait to be laid underground along the Mountain Valley Pipeline under construction near Elliston, Virginia, September 29, 2019.

Charles Mostoller | Reuters

A bipartisan debt-limit bill introduced over the weekend by President Joe Biden and House Republicans would speed up approval of all permits for a natural gas pipeline in West Virginia and restrict environmental assessments under one of the country’s landmark environmental laws.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline, promoted by Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., would transport natural gas 303 miles from West Virginia to the Southeast and a portion of it would traverse the Jefferson National Forest. Construction of the $6.6 billion pipeline is nearing completion, although plans have been delayed by several years due to legal setbacks.

Climate and civil rights activists, as well as some state Democrats, have spoken out strongly against the pipeline. Scientists have repeatedly warned that the country must halt approval of new fossil fuel projects and accelerate the clean energy transition to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

While the Biden administration has pushed through an aggressive climate agenda, the president has also taken steps to boost fossil fuel production and work with Manchin and Republicans, who have argued that the president’s climate agenda threatens U.S. energy security.

Critics of the Mountain Valley Pipeline say it will pass through mostly rural, low-income Indigenous communities and will undermine the country’s efforts to curb fossil fuel emissions and pollution, which disproportionately harms communities committed to environmental justice.

“The dirty debt ceiling deal is essentially an assault on our climate and our working families. It’s a climate bomb … and a health hazard to any community that comes its way,” said Jean Su, program director for energy justice at the Center for Biological Diversity. said during a call on Tuesday. “It’s incredibly important that Congress vote on a clean debt ceiling.”

Proponents say the pipeline is vital to strengthening the US’s domestic energy security and that the plan is nearing completion and set to become a reality.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the White House in Washington on May 28, 2023 on his agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (RCA) to raise the United States’ debt ceiling.

Julia Nikhinson | Reuters

The debt limit bill will speed up federal approvals for the pipeline and limit judicial review. Nevertheless, the project could be stopped or blocked by lawsuits.

US energy company Equitrans Midstream Corporation announced earlier this month that it expects to complete the pipeline by the end of the year, but added, “Significant risks and uncertainties remain, including with regard to current and likely litigation.”

“President Biden has protected his historic climate legislation, blocked House Republicans from reclaiming record funding for environmental justice projects, and struck a deal to bring hundreds of clean energy projects online faster while protecting the full scope of environmental assessments,” Abdullah said Hasan, a white House Speaker said.

“We believe this is a bipartisan compromise that Congressional Democrats can be proud of and that will accelerate our clean energy goals and climate agenda,” Hasan said.

The agreement would also streamline the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a landmark environmental regulation, to limit its requirements on some projects.

The agreement would task “a single lead agency” with developing environmental assessments to speed up the process and reduce the time it takes the federal government to analyze the environmental impact of a proposed plan.

Environmental groups argued that the NEPA provision would further limit the public’s ability to contribute to fossil fuel projects, hurting overburdened communities. In a letter Tuesday from 175 groups, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and members of Congress were urged to vote on a clean debt ceiling bill.

Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, which represents oil and gas companies, said in a statement that reforming the NEPA analysis is “extremely important to put the country back on the energy dominance path.”

“This is an important first step in accelerating the approval of America’s energy infrastructure, reducing costs for taxpayers and alleviating high energy prices for consumers,” Sgamma said of the debt ceiling agreement.

Congress is scheduled to vote on the law on Wednesday. Passing the bill will require both Republican and Democrat support. The deal must pass the Senate before the June 5 deadline set by the Treasury Department.