EXCLUSIVE: Talks Day #3 'Stalemated'

There’s little more to say about Wednesday’s talks other than that, unfortunately. “This is not heading in the right direction,” a mogul quoted his labor exec as saying to him yesterday. Another source told me, “It’s stalemated. Nothing’s getting achieved.”

I’m not sure people are aware that CAA partner Bryan Lourd all week has been at the hotel where the talks are being held. He’s working both sides in a form of “footstep diplomacy” (as opposed to Henry Kissinger’s old “shuttle diplomacy”). An insider told me, “He keeps asking what everybody needs. This is what Lew Wasserman used to do during these things. Wasserman would say, ‘I want to know what you each need. I don’t want to know what you want. Go in the other room and tell me what you need.’ “

As I’ve reported previously, Lourd was designated as the Hollywood agencies’ point person to assist these resumed negotiations, which I should stress do not have a stop date on them at the moment and will probably continue well past Thursday. Said an insider: “There’s no arbitrary end to this. Everyone only leaves if Bryan gives up and goes home.” (And shame on journalist Alex Ben Block for writing a piece on Lourd containing nothing new yet not crediting me for all my scoops about Lourd’s and all the agents’ role.)