California state treasurer Fiona Ma this week sent letters to studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers urging them to make “fair deals” to end to the double strikes led by film and TV writers and actors.

mother,

in her role as treasurer and as a board member of state pension funds serving government employees and teachers

wrote letters to seven companies:

included

Netflix, Walt Disney Co., Comcast, Warner Bros. Discovery, Apple,

Paramount Global and Amazon. Her message highlighted the damage the long-running labor dispute is doing to the state’s economy. Under her position as treasurer and board member of California Public Employees’ Retirement System and California State Teachers Retirement System pension funds, “The impact of these two strikes is crippling Hollywood and reverberating across the state, impacting countless businesses, thousands of pension fund beneficiaries, and millions of Californians. Ma wrote in a letter Wednesday to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, CEO of NBCUniversal owner Comcast. as sustainable careers in California.”

Film and TV writers

represented by the Writers Guild of America,

have been on strike since early May

and negotiate a new agreement with the AMPTP

.

The WGA and the studio sides

remain far apart on key issues, including minimum staffing levels in the writers’ room

S

and writer access to viewer data on streaming services.

“During this time, the major media companies have failed to make any serious efforts to negotiate a fair deal,” Ma wrote in her letter to Comcast.

Actors represented by SAG-AFTRA joined the writers on the picket line in mid-July. SAG AFTRA

has

said it’s still waiting to hear

back

by

the

AMPTP on resuming negotiations.

The double strikes have brought film and television production in the state to a virtual standstill.

Ma, who is also a member of SAG-AFTRA, said the dispute has put an economic system vital to the California economy in “significant jeopardy.” For example, 15,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters have been out of work for months as a result of the WGA strike, she said. About 20% of LA

–

The region’s income comes from the entertainment or adjacent industries, and more than 700,000 Californians are employed in entertainment jobs, Ma said.

The treasurer has already spoken in favor of the unions. At one

July board meeting

for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Ma’s representative said she was deeply concerned about the fiduciary risks posed by the strikes and that the economic fallout from the strikes could threaten the financial performance of CalPERS’ investments. There has been little There has been no noticeable movement between the AMPTP and WGA this week, progress towards a deal between the WGA and the studios

despite that it has been slow

the recent resumption of negotiations sparked a fleeting wave of cautious optimism.

Last week, after WGA

protested, did not embrace

the August 11 AMPTPs

counter

For the proposal, the AMPTP publicly released a six-page executive summary, calling it a “comprehensive package that addresses all of the issues that the Guild has identified as its highest priorities.”

Instead of getting a significant number of WGA members to support the AMPTP proposal, m

Many writers said it didn’t go nearly far enough

and was annoyed by the studios’ tactics of releasing the details of their offerings to the press. In a statement released last week outlining AMPTP’s proposal, the alliance’s president, Carol Lombardini, said the group was “deeply committed to ending the strike and hopeful that the WGA will work toward the same resolution.”

Our priority is to end the strike so valued members of the creative community can return to what they do best, and end the hardships experienced by so many people and companies serving the industry.”

said

the president of the studio alliance

,

Carol Lombardini

said

in a statement last week.

In addition to Ma, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli have also put pressure on AMPTP companies.

Earlier this month, Lander sent letters on behalf of five New York City pension funds, pleading with Comcast, Paramount Global and Walt Disney Co. called for an end to the strikes. DiNapoli

as a trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund,

also sent letters earlier this year

cheer on

Companies that are members of AMPTP

for like Warner Bros. Discovery

settle the labor dispute “on terms that are fair to both workers and management.”