Good morning. We're covering the deal to end the Hollywood writers' strike — as well as the South China Sea, abortions in Mexico and Taylor Swift. |
 | | In Los Angeles last week.Mario Tama/Getty Images |
|
A writers' strike has frozen Hollywood for months. Studios delayed the production of TV shows and movies, including fan favorites like "Stranger Things" and new "Star Wars" films. Organizers postponed the Emmys. Talk shows went on hiatus. |
W.G.A. members had demanded higher pay, greater royalties, better working conditions and protections against artificial intelligence. The tentative deal includes most of what the writers sought. In the coming days, union members will vote on whether to approve the agreement. |
"We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional — with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership," the W.G.A. negotiating committee told union members yesterday. |
The studios, notably, were not celebrating. |
Negotiations had stalled for months. They regained momentum last week when studio executives, including Disney's powerful chief executive, Bob Iger, came to the table. After five days, both sides reached an agreement. |
The use of A.I. was the final sticking point. The writers didn't want studios to use their work to teach chatbots how to write, feeding A.I. old scripts so the chatbots could generate writing in a similar style. |
The writers also worried that studios would ask chatbots to rewrite or refine the first drafts of their work — for scenes or whole shows. "That's the nightmare scenario," said John August, who is on the Writers Guild negotiating committee. |
The studios had initially said that too much was unknown about the technology, and that the guild would need to wait to discuss it in future contract negotiations. |
But over the weekend, the studios proposed a few paragraphs to be inserted into the new contract that addressed a writers' concern about A.I. and old scripts. The two sides spent several hours negotiating the language on the final night of talks. |
An end to the writers' strike would not mean that Hollywood is back to full working order. A separate actors' strike, led by SAG-AFTRA, is continuing. The actors want 2 percent of the total revenue generated by streaming shows, something that studios have said is a nonstarter. There are no talks scheduled between the two sides. |
The combination of the writers' and actors' strikes had halted work on shows like "Yellowstone" and movies like the next installment of "Mission Impossible." More than 100,000 behind-the-scenes staff, like camera operators and makeup artists, are still out of work. The actors' strike also hindered marketing, by preventing union members from going on press tours. |
With writers most likely heading back to work, daytime and late-night talk show hosts like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Jennifer Hudson could soon return to the air. |
Earlier this month, some talk show hosts, including Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher, announced that they would bypass the writers' strike and restart production of their talk shows. After a fierce backlash from their staffs and audiences, they delayed production once again. |
- The Writers Guild suspended picketing — but encouraged members to join the striking actors' picket lines, which will begin again tomorrow.
- The stock prices for Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global have taken a hit during the strikes.
- Hollywood writers thanked their negotiators on social media. "You saved our profession," one wrote.
- Hundreds of filmmakers attending an awards gala cheered when the deal was announced from the stage, The Hollywood Reporter writes.
|
 | | A Chinese coast guard ship.Jes Aznar for The New York Times |
|
- In the South China Sea, Times journalists saw China's growing militarization and territorial ambitions in the contested waters.
- Emmanuel Macron, France's president, plans to withdraw troops from Niger by the end of the year, after weeks of escalating tensions with the nation's new military leaders.
- Refugees are crossing into Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave that was returned to Azerbaijan's control in a military offensive last week.
- The diplomatic crisis between India and Canada over the killing of a separatist in British Columbia has left many Indians with plans to travel for work and education in limbo.
- The Greek economy is growing at twice the eurozone average, a decade after the country's financial crisis shuttered hundreds of thousands of businesses.
|
- More than a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned, American women are crossing the border into Mexico to seek abortions.
- Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy's hard-line positions on issues like race and identity are frustrating some Indian Americans.
- As the criminal cases against Donald Trump move forward, law enforcement officials have warned about the potential for violence by his supporters.
|
 | | The wooden arrow.Espen Finstad |
|
- An archaeologist found a 3,000-year-old arrow in Norway. It is among the thousands of artifacts emerging as climate change thaws permafrost and glaciers.
- Many of the world's largest food companies have not made progress on their emission reduction goals. Some, like McDonald's, have reported rising levels.
- Hot-weather cherries and drought-resistant melons: Meet the crops that could change how we eat in a warming world.
|
- A NASA spacecraft returned to Earth after seven years. It carried material from a carbon-rich asteroid that could reveal clues about the origins of our solar system.
- Few U.S. hospitals have restored mask mandates as Covid infections rise. Health care workers and public health experts are divided.
- The F.B.I. opened a civil rights investigation into allegations that police officers in Baton Rouge, La., abused and humiliated detainees in an unmarked "torture warehouse."
|
Our best offer ends soon. Save on all of The Times. |
Readers of The Morning can enjoy everything The Times has to offer, all in one subscription and all for a special rate. Subscribe today for unlimited access to News, plus Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter and The Athletic. |
 | | A subway train in Seoul.Chang W. Lee/The New York Times |
|
The pastry is political: Mooncakes — dense Chinese pastries — are being used in protest, The Washington Post reports. |
Lives Lived: Matteo Messina Denaro was a convicted killer and high-ranking mobster who had eluded capture for three decades. He died at 61. |
Around the league: The Miami Dolphins scored 70 points, the most in an N.F.L. game since 1966, in a rout of the Denver Broncos. And the Chicago Bears' struggles continued — with a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, they have now lost 13 straight games going back to last season. |
N.F.L.: Women are increasingly taking on roles as scouts and assistant coaches. They have formed support systems to navigate the male-dominated world. |
Dartmouth: Buddy Teevens, a pioneering football coach who banned tackling during practices, died at 66. |
U.S. women's soccer: Megan Rapinoe played her final international match, in a game against South Africa. The U.S. side won, 2-0. |
 | | "¡Presente!," the first preview exhibition.Tony Powell/The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino |
|
Battle over history: Construction has not yet begun on the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino, but a political fight is already boiling over how the museum will present its material. Conservative commentators blasted its first preview exhibition, accusing it of putting a Marxist bent on history, and a group of Latino Republican congressmen led a vote to eliminate the museum's funding. The outcry led the museum's director to replace a planned exhibition on civil rights with one about salsa music, to the dismay of some Latino scholars. |
 | | Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell. |
|
Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangrams were immigrant, immigrating, marinating, migrant and migrating. |
Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David |
 | Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Amy Fiscus News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Lauren Jackson, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch |
|
.png){kind=logo}
Comments
Post a Comment