“The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.”

“Receiving positive feedback from Wall Street since the WGA went on strike May 2, Warner Bros Discovery, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Paramount and others have become determined to “break the WGA,” as one studio exec blatantly put it.”

Hollywood Studios’ WGA Strike Endgame Is To Let Writers Go Broke Before Resuming Talks In Fall

This is the narrative the AMPTP started with, and they were fine with it. Add to that Bob Iger’s you did not just say that … yes, you did, comment. Yet, they are surprised the Snidely Whiplash type of messaging cast the AMPTP in a bad light? So now they hire a new crisis PR Firm.

AMPTP, stop spending time and money trying to look better to the public. Get to negotiating.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has hired a prominent Washington, D.C.-based crisis management firm to assist its messaging effort as the double actors and writers strike grinds on with no end in sight.

The studios’ trade association has been under an unprecedented national spotlight in its four-decade history as the work stoppages lead to severe ripple-effect economic consequences.

It’s led by namesake Molly Levinson, a former political director at CNN and CBS turned strategic adviser for corporate clients with reputational and risk concerns.

She’s also known for her work on behalf of the restaurant Comet Ping Pong, countering “Pizzagate,” as well as the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team in its campaign for pay equity.

The studios aren’t alone in enlisting new PR reinforcements for the current standoff: SAG-AFTRA has hired Precision Strategies, led by Stephanie Cutter, who served as deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential run.

The situation has worsened for management as workers have made their case on social media while the AMPTP has chosen to remain silent — except, of course, for step-in-it moments like Disney chief Bob Iger’s Sun Valley commentary, which provoked its own backlash.

The original article contains 415 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 53%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

This is interesting.

We’re not quite yet at the ‘blood in the water’ point for the production side, but hiring a premium strategic communications firm is a solid indicator that the major production conglomerates and streamers have realized that they’re well beyond the point of saving some cash while cooling of their destructive arms-race in overproduction.

They’ve realized that they’ve both lost control of the narrative and may be at risk of having their audiences turn to other things. They may have finally realized that they’re not just competing with one another but with other media that they don’t produce.

Long past are the days when people would watch just about anything on linear when there was no new scripted content. The youth audience is increasingly turning to gaming and social media. There’s no guarantee the audience will come back if it’s not well served.