WGA’s Patric Verrone: Resolve Of Writers Is Stronger Than During 2007-08 Strike
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Patric Verrone knows a thing or two about negotiations between the writers and studios.
As President of the WGA West from 2005-09, he was in charge during the last writers strike in 2007 and 2008.
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He tells Deadline that the resolve of membership is “even stronger” than last time out.
“I think the biggest similarity [with 07-08] is that the studios weren’t convinced that we were going to strike, and I think they are similarly now wondering how long we’re gonna last,” he said. “The resolve of the membership then and now, however, is even stronger.”
Verrone said Wednesday night’s WGA meeting highlighted this. “I’ve been in this membership for 37 years. I was President during the last strike. I’ve never seen the kind of outpouring of support from the Hollywood labor movement as we saw last night,” he said. “More than anything what makes the nature of a union fulfilling is the solidarity and the community and the ability to accomplish things through unity and so when you go beyond your own four walls, it becomes clear that we’re all in this together, which was the catchphrase of 2007, and that is even more true.”
The Futurama writer said that the AMPTP wouldn’t address its main issues. “They treated [our issues] as if it was just business as usual — and it’s not business as usual because the business is broken, and they broke it.”
Next up for talks is the DGA, which in 2007-08 struck a deal while the writers were still on strike.
“They had a lot of the same issues in that strike, fundamentally the same issue jurisdiction over the internet, and so it had a greater impact on the deal that resulted,” Verrone said. “This time there’s a lot of issues that we don’t share. There are a lot that we do share, and those are the ones on which we made progress in the talks. I don’t want to make any predictions, but it would seem most likely that they will be able to come to a deal on those issues but not be able to solve the fundamental problems that we need to address.”
AI has become one of the biggest issues on the table for the writers. Verrone said it’s similar to how new media and streaming was in 2007.
“The [AMPTP] said, ‘We don’t want to endanger our ability to use a technology that might advantage us,’ and we need to be able to put fences around that early,” he said. “If we don’t get these issues resolved in their infancy, we lose control over them entirely. Even at the beginning of the negotiation cycle, AI was this sort of fringe issue, and over the course of the months of discussions, it grew enormously and will continue to grow.”
Marjorie David, former WGA West VP and current Board of Directors member, was with Verrone outside Fox. “If you replace all of the human beings with AI, then what happens to the economy of this whole town? Nobody will have a job,” she said.
David added: “If you’re a costume designer, you do not want AI coming along and copying Valentino dresses and Prada purses — you’re out of a job. The economy of the town really depends on us prevailing in the strike.”
Verrone added: “One of the things that has been key to the unity in general is that Teamsters and truck drivers understand the notion of a machine taking their job just as much as we do. I think these companies need to be suspicious of something that can do their job as well.”
He said that the WGA is “absolutely” willing to get back to the bargaining table but said that they must be willing to address their key issues.
How long does he think this strike will last? “As long as it takes,” he said.
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