Federal Mediator Joins WGA Contract Negotiations

A federal mediator joined the WGA's film and TV contract negotiations for the first time in 19 years on Oct. 30.

Juan Carlos Gonzalez of the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service will try to help the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers reach common ground. The parties resumed their film and TV negotiations on Oct. 30 at AMPTP headquarters in Encino.

"The mediation will depend a lot on the will of the WGA and the AMPTP to make it work, and there has to be a willingness to make things work and to compromise," said Steve Katleman, a labor attorney with Greenberg Traurig in Los Angeles. "There has been such brinksmanship up to now, and it can be difficult to back down sometimes, so this could possibly provide a face-saving opportunity for one side or the other. But it's a voluntary process, and it will be all about the power of persuasion of the mediator."

That process could take awhile, warned Alan Brunswick, a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

"Typically, the mediators don't know anything about the entertainment industry, so the parties have to spend a good amount of time educating them," Brunswick said. "The issues here are so complex, it could take some time for them to do so."

WGA West president Patric Verrone told The Hollywood Reporter that a strike won't be called at the stroke of midnight on Halloween. No strike will be called at least until after WGA leadership meets with membership on Thursday.

Some analysts voiced skepticism on the effect mediation would have.

"Mediation is something that both sides use to tell their higher-ups or membership that they've done everything they can to do a deal," said one former negotiator, adding, "Mediation can be of most benefit when the parties have had a hard time talking to one another."

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