DGA & Studios “Have A Lot Of Ground To Cover” Before Any Possible Deal, As Talks Continue

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: With the clock ticking and writers out on the picket lines all over town, the Directors Guild of America and the studios are far from even the framework of a deal.

Two weeks into their negotiations, the Lesli Linka Glatter-led union and the Alliance of Motion Picture Producers and Television Producers haven’t “agreed on anything significant,” well-positioned sources say.

Not entirely surprising at this juncture in the media-blacked-out talks, the reality of the situation extinguishes the rumor flying around town today that an agreement is close. “There is a process, it takes time,” a high ranking DGA member told Deadline. “Everyone in the rooms is following [the process] in full knowledge of what’s happening on the picket lines.” Another DGA member added of the pickets and protests: “There’s a lot of noise outside, in front of the studios, but negotiators can’t get too caught up in all that.

We have to stay focused, we have a lot of ground to cover before any agreement is in sight.” In fact, having first sat down face-to-face on May 10, just over a week after the Writers Guild went out on strike on May 2, the DGA and AMPTP negotiating committees having been emphasizing a modular approach.