The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) is a

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. Through collabor ...

based in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, that represents over 350 American television and

film production Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

companies in

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

negotiations with entertainment industry

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s that include, among others,

SAG-AFTRA The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

, the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

, the

Writers Guild of America West The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. It was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, including the Screen Writers Guild. It has around 20,000 me ...

and

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

, the

American Federation of Musicians The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) trade union, labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in N ...

, and the

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada, known as simply the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE or ...

Overview

As the entertainment industry's official collective bargaining representative, the AMPTP, like the

Motion Picture Association The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the Major film studios, five major film studios of the Cinema of the United States, United States, the Major film studios#Mini-majors, mini-major Amazon MGM Stud ...

(MPA), is a key trade association for major film and television producers in the United States. The AMPTP currently negotiates 80 industry-wide collective bargaining agreements on behalf of over 350 motion picture and television producers. AMPTP member companies include the major motion picture studios (including

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

, Walt Disney Studios and

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

), the principal broadcast television networks (including ABC,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

FOX Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

), streaming services like

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

, and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

, certain cable television networks, and other independent film and television production companies.

History

The AMPTP was founded in 1924 as the Association of Motion Picture Producers (AMPP). It merged with the Alliance of Television Film Producers (ATFP) in 1964 and was renamed the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers. In 1966, it also merged with the Society of Independent Producers (formed in 1964). In September 1975, Universal quit the Association during craft negotiations and

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

and

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

also notified the Association of their intention to withdraw the following month. Paramount and Universal formed a new organization, the Alliance. In 1982, the Alliance and the AMPTP merged to form the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Since its formation, the AMPTP has only had two presidents, beginning with

Nick Counter James Nicholas Counter III (1940–November 6, 2009) was an American labor attorney, who served as the long-standing president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and as chief negotiator for the major studios who squared ...

from 1982 until 2009. With Counter's retirement in March 2009, Carol Lombardini took over on an interim basis until becoming permanent president seven months later in October. Jarryd Gonzales served as AMPTP's spokesperson from 2015 to 2023. The AMPTP was an affiliate of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Jack Valenti Jack Joseph Valenti (September 5, 1921 – April 26, 2007) was an American political advisor and lobbyist who served as a Special Assistant to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was also the longtime president of the Motion Picture Association ...

, former top

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

aide to

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

, started his long tenure as MPAA president in 1966. Other key 20th-century film industry executives who helped shape producer associations were

Joseph Schenck Joseph Michael Schenck (; December 25, 1876 – October 22, 1961) was a Russian-born American film studio executive. Life and career Schenck was born to a Jewish family in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russian Empire. He emigrated to New York Cit ...

Lew Wasserman Lewis Robert Wasserman (March 22, 1913 – June 3, 2002) was an American businessman and talent agent, described as "the last of the legendary movie moguls" and "arguably the most powerful and influential Hollywood titan in the four decades afte ...

Sid Sheinberg Sidney Jay Sheinberg (January 14, 1935 – March 7, 2019) was an American businessman, lawyer and entertainment executive. He served as president and CEO of MCA Inc. and Universal Pictures for over 40 years. Early life and education Sheinberg ...

, Y. Frank Freeman and Richard Jencks. In October 2023, it was announced that over 2300 film and TV producers signed a petition to drop the word "Producers" from the AMPTP acronym (so that it would be AMPT), saying it was "left over from a long-gone era." They claimed that the alliance no longer reflected the interests of working producers, but rather the interests of studio CEOs.

Post Production Guild

In 2022,

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

workers in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, represented by

Communications Workers of America The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors (also in Canada and Puerto Rico). The union has 27 loc ...

(CWA) under the name The Post Production Guild, signed union cards and asked AMPTP for voluntary union recognition. AMPTP declined to voluntarily recognize the union, saying they support "a secret ballot election process by which a union can become certified as the collective bargaining representative of employees". The CWA referred to AMPTP as "anti-union", alleging the workers are "supervisors" and ineligible for representation by the

National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States that enforces United States labor law, U.S. labor law in relation to collect ...

. The group filed for a union election on March 8, 2022.

Explanatory notes

References

External links

*
Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) records
Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930
{{Authority control 1924 establishments in the United States Organizations established in 1924 Non-profit organizations based in Los Angeles Trade associations based in the United States Communications and media organizations based in the United States Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles

Overview

History

Post Production Guild

See also

Explanatory notes

References

External links