Yahoo News Gavin Newsom Could Help End Hollywood Strikes — But Not Yet
Could an October surprise be coming to Hollywood’s picket lines and C-suites?
Gov. Gavin Newsom is prepared to step in to try to broker a deal between the WGA, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP if there is no significant movement by the fall, we hear.
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“He’s the obvious choice to bring the parties together and bring down the temperature,” a political and industry insider says of the nimble and notoriously patient politician. “Getting a deal will be a test of his Jenga skills, but that’s where Newsom likes to surprise people.”
Unlike past Tinseltown labor actions, no neutral interceder has emerged so far that the unions and the studios trust and respect to guide them to a deal.
Increasingly looking to non-Hollywood revenues, agency chiefs still are tainted in many union members’ minds from the long and bitter packaging battle with the WGA. Heavyweight attorneys are seen as having too many potential conflicts of interest to be instrumental. Whereas once CEOs such as Bob Iger, David Zaslav and Ted Sarandos might have been able to conjure the spirit of a Lew Wasserman to command an agreement, the highly compensated studio bosses are seen by those on the picket lines as the villains in all of this — or at least pawns of Wall Street.
Names that have been floated as potential mediators include Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and even Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is a former entertainment attorney with a home in Brentwood.
However, for all the other names that are mentioned, it is Newsom’s that seems to come up again and again from multiple quarters.
“Think about it, he’s the governor of California, first of all. He knows all the players, and they know he’s a guy who likes to take big swings,” a studio exec explained. “Secondly, the tax credits are all about job creation, and no production means no jobs. Lastly, what has he been up to lately?” the individual notes with a wink to the high-profile brawls Newsom has engaged in with Red State leaders including Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Texas’ Greg Abbott and his successful sit-down Fox News’ Sean Hannity last month. “The guy wants to be president one day, so stepping in is good governance as well as great optics.”
Unlike many others in the political arena, Newsom, who coasted to a recall victory in 2021 and re-election last year, isn’t on the ballot in 2024. With that freedom – and term limits – the governor is looking at a wider horizon for his next move.
Armed with the power of the Golden State’s more than $330 million-a-year tax credits program and his Oval Office ambitions, Newsom “has the leverage and the stature to get everyone back around the table,” a connected producer declared. “No one else has that muscle to wrangle the players — [they] are a big deal, at least in their own minds.”
RELATED: Latest Pics Set For California Film Tax Credits Expected To Generate $662M In Production Spending
Sensitive to the sprawling labor shutdown that has hit the town since the scribes went on strike in early May, Newsom and his office have insisted that the governor would get involved only if he is directly asked by the guilds and the AMPTP. So far, beyond a few check-in calls to and from Sacramento over the past few weeks, there has been no such request from the WGA, the 160,000-member-strong SAG-AFTRA or the reps for the studios and streamers. “He is not currently involved, yet,” a studio source stated.
One studio executive said that if Newsom were to be called, it would be further down the line, given the stakes involved in the strike and the current level of rhetoric. In that timeline, late September/early October looks most likely.
“His position remains that if both sides ask, he would step in and try to help,” a source close to the governor’s office said today as whispers swirl about Newsom participating in reopening negotiations. “But no one’s asking. Meantime, we are staying in touch with both sides.”
In the end, to paraphrase numerous sources, Newsom taking a commanding role in the fall in crafting a new contract for the WGA and, to a lesser extent, SAG-AFTRA, likely would come down to Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign catchphrase: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Nearly 90 days into the WGA strike and two weeks since the actors’ union took to the streets on both coasts, most production has come to a halt and the economic blast radius of the stoppage has become a looming factor for Sacramento, as more and more vendors and business that usually service the entertainment industry begin to feel financial pain. As Deadline reported earlier this month, the studios and streamers’ aim is to wait out the WGA until their members find their bank accounts barren.
On a larger scale. LA County is extremely vulnerable to another economic blow as the bulk of its 10 million residents are still recovering from the shutdowns and lockdowns of the pandemic.
Widening out even more, after years of surpluses, Newsom and lawmakers had to plug a $32 billion deficit in the state’s most recent budget, passed just last month. A continued work stoppage in one of the state’s most important industries would likely exacerbate the problem.
“The strike has huge ramifications not just for writers and actors looking for a fair deal but all the crews not working, and the ancillary businesses,” a veteran TV writer and active guild member said. “Layoffs, closures, bankruptcies, declining tax base — none of that helps with the burdens of homelessness and crime that many people already see out there. Newsom knows that; he has to be watching.
“It is a question of timing, knowing exactly when to get in there and at what stage,” the political insider points out of the risks Newsom faces moving too soon or too late in the strike.
That sentiment was echoed by Wendy Greuel, government and regulatory national adviser at Manatt, a member of the California Film Commission and former city controller of Los Angeles, who said that “timing is everything” for any political figure to intervene in a labor dispute. “It’s that timing, when people say, ‘We have been clear about our positions, and the impact is being felt by both sides, and now we are getting back to the table.'”
Over the hot summer so far, other lawmakers have tried to put pressure on the unions and the studios and streamers to reach a deal, often with an eye for supporting labor.
Three dozen members of California’s congressional delegation wrote a letter to leaders on both sides this week, focusing on the need to respect collective bargaining rights. Additionally, the three major Democratic candidates for the retiring Dianne Feinstein’s U.S. Senate seat — Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff — all have walked picket lines.
Further up the political food chain, President Joe Biden has weighed in on the WGA strikes, calling for writers to get a “fair deal.” The White House issued a similar statement about the actors at the time that SAG-AFTRA called a walkout on July 14. However, there is a certain amount of wariness at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue of getting involved in an industry issue. That is one reason why the experienced Emhoff hasn’t taken on any role in the strikes, and there are potential legal issues by White House principals mediating a dispute. In that context as well, the president so far has avoided making a fundraising swing to Los Angeles, with sources saying that it is out of concerns of getting mired in a labor dispute and the unflattering image of raising money from studio management donors at a high-dollar event.
A number of insiders note that Bass has the advantage of having helped resolve a recent labor dispute. In March, she helped mediate an agreement that ended a strike by service workers of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Zach Seidl, spokesman for Bass, said that the strike was a “historic inflection point for the city. The mayor has met directly with WGA and SAG members as well as studio representatives. We continue to engage with labor leaders, studio heads, elected leaders and other impacted parties to arrive at a fair an equitable solution.”
Still, with or without Newsom getting involved in the strikes, the former congresswoman’s top priority clearly remains cleaning up and solving the city’s homelessness crisis.
Like Bass, Newsom also has been keeping a relatively low profile as the strikes have dragged on, avoiding statements that even suggest he’s taking a side — a good position if or when the governor does get in the thick of it.
The AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA had no comment on Newsom getting directly involved in seeking a new agreement and an end to the strikes. “The only ones who can end the strike are the studios by negotiating a fair deal for writers,” WGA chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman said in a statement.
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