Hollywood studios offer new concessions to striking screenwriters

Hollywood studios have made a new offer to striking screenwriters that includes concessions on issues such as the use of artificial intelligence and access to viewer data, Bloomberg News reported on Monday citing people familiar with the discussions.

The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers has agreed to ensure humans are credited as writers of screenplays, instead of replacing them with AI, the report said, adding that the companies would also share data on the number of hours viewed on streaming services.

Other parts of the offer include a better-than-20 per cent increase in residual payments to writers when their shows appear on networks other than the one they were made for, Bloomberg said.

Netflix Co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos has emerged as a strong force and Walt Disney Co CEO Bob Iger, in recent weeks, has joined him in seeking to reach a deal with the writers, the report added.

The union representing striking Hollywood writers said on Friday it had received a counterproposal from the studios that it would consider, an apparent sign of progress in the more than 100-day-old strike.

The strike by Hollywood writers began on May 2 after talks between the WGA and the major studios reached an impasse over compensation, minimum staffing of writers' rooms and residual payments in the streaming era, among other issues.

The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers and Writers Guild of America didn't immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.