The Hollywood Screenwriters Association returned to the negotiating table this week after studios called for a meeting to find ways to end a strike that has lasted more than 100 days, the union said, and actors joined the historic strike in Hollywood in mid-July.
Script writers and actors are demanding higher salaries, greater shares of business revenues that are shown through streaming platforms, and guarantees that prevent the use of artificial intelligence programs either to write scripts for works, or to reproduce their voices and images.
In a related context, the “Emmy” television awards ceremony was postponed for nearly four months, according to the organizers of this event, at a time when Hollywood was witnessing a strike carried out by screenwriters and actors a hundred days ago, and led to the paralysis of film and television productions.
And the “Fox” channel and the Television Academy announced, in a joint statement, that the award ceremony for the television equivalent of the cinematic Oscars, which was scheduled for September 18, will take place in mid-January 2024.
A Fox spokesperson said, “We are pleased to announce that the seventy-fifth Primetime Emmy Awards will take place on Monday, January 15, 2024.”
The last postponement of this celebration dates back to September 2001, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Under the strike, actors are not currently allowed to participate in the party, nor are writers allowed to compose monologues or jokes for the party host and presenters.
The postponement decision aims to allow time for the two sides of the crisis to resolve their differences, although they have rarely held negotiations through any official mediator since the start of the script writers’ strike a hundred days ago, and members of the Actors Union joined the strike last month.
The strikers are demanding higher salaries and guarantees regarding the use of artificial intelligence, to prevent this technology from creating texts or reproducing their voice and image.
In recent weeks, media reports reported that the Emmy Awards ceremony had been postponed, but the postponement of the event and its new date were not confirmed before the official statement of the organizers.
The new party date coincides with the Hollywood Film Awards season, as a week after this cinematic event, the “Golden Globe” awards ceremony will be organized, while only 24 hours later the Critics’ Choice Awards presented by the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) will be held. The Oscars will be distributed on March 10.
The strike in Hollywood paralyzed film and television productions in the United States, with limited exceptions such as reality TV and game programmes, and caused confusion among other events in Hollywood.
