Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP)

Praise to you, O Christ.

In November of 2007, the Writers Guild of America went on strike after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to come to an agreement over its contract with the Guild.

While some shows' airing schedules were uninterrupted, many others had their seasons shortened, were placed on hiatus, or were cancelled.

In the midst of this turmoil, with no work to be done, director Joss Whedon, best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for his contributions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and for his workplace harassment, got together with his brothers and a few friends to write the cult classic online musical comedy Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which was released in July of 2008 after the strike had ended.

And then when they declared their strike.

and talks ended, it was the beginning of May, I remember seeing the list of things that the AMPTP had said no to and seeing their response to AI.

And I was like, that wasn't on my radar before and now I'm freaked out about it.

And I called, I have a friend who works in Silicon Valley and I called him and I was like, so I guess I need a new career.

And so this is what they were really focused on and not super focused on AI.

But the day before the strike or the day before the old contract ended and the deadline for the new contract passed, they were in a bargaining session with the head of the industry group that negotiates for all the studios called the AMPTP.

And they just made kind of one more ask about AI and said, you know, you haven't really responded to our demands on AI.

What's the deal? And the top industry negotiator basically said, like, we don't want to do anything that's going to tie our members' hands when it comes to this technology.

They're in New York or sometimes they're even in other countries.

And the AMPTP is not the studios, it's not the producers, it's lawyers for major companies.

I certainly was talking to CEOs and Nick Counter all the way through this, so I have things I've never told anybody.

Nick Counter.

In the entertainment industry, the opposite happens.

The companies are organized and they find the union willing to make the easiest deal and then move on to the next one.

Instead of all of the guilds working together, it's essentially the AMPTP pitting the other guilds against each other.

Nick Counter insisted that all the unions engage in pattern bargaining.