Morning Briefing — Monday, March 16

Day 2 in an ongoing series of thing you, my writers, might find investing about the industry. Lmk if you guys like this feature:

WGA Negotiations Officially Begin Today Today. The WGA sits down with the AMPTP for the first round of 2026 contract talks. Contract expires May 1. On the table: AI protections, streaming residuals, and a health fund that's hemorrhaged $122M over two years. Ellen Stutzman is back as chief negotiator. This one matters whether you're staffed or spec-ing — the AI language they land on will shape what our work is worth for the next three years. Deadline: WGA Releases Pattern of Demands for AMPTP Negotiations

Ryan Coogler Wins Best Original Screenplay for Sinners First Oscar. Only the second Black writer to win Best Original Screenplay in Academy history (Jordan Peele was first, for Get Out). Also only the second horror film to ever win the category. What's worth sitting with: Sinners is a period piece, a horror film, a blues story, and a meditation on Black identity in Jim Crow Mississippi. Coogler didn't dilute it to make it commercial. It became the most nominated film in Oscar history anyway. IndieWire: Ryan Coogler Wins Best Original Screenplay

SAG-AFTRA Talks Stall, Extended Into Spring SAG-AFTRA and the studios couldn't close a deal in the first round. Contract expires June 30. The big ask: studios pay a royalty every time an AI-generated performer is used — essentially making digital replicas as expensive to use as the real thing. That's a fascinating leverage play. Watch how this language develops. It'll likely influence the WGA's AI protections as well. Variety: SAG-AFTRA and Studios Agree to Extend Negotiations

A24's Undertone Overperforms, Reminders of Him Nearly Doubles Projections Two stories buried in the weekend box office numbers worth pulling out. A24 bought Ian Tuason's paranormal thriller Undertone for $3-4M. It opened to $9.3M. That's a monster return for a first-time feature director. Separately, the Colleen Hoover adaptation Reminders of Him came in at $18.2M domestic — nearly double what trackers projected. Original acquisitions and book IP both beating expectations on the same weekend. The market for compelling stories isn't dead. Awards Radar: Box Office Report for the Week of March 15

California Film Tax Credit Now $750M a Year Newsom signed the expansion in mid-2025. The credit doubled from $330M to $750M annually. Writeoff rates went up too — 35-40% of qualified spend, from the old 20-25%. The film commission says 2026 is when productions actually start feeling it. If you've been eyeing a California-set project, this changes the financing math. Entertainment Partners: California Expands Film Tax Incentive

Your turn: Coogler built Sinners around a specific wound — the erasure and exploitation of Black music and culture — and let that drive a horror film set in 1932 Mississippi. It didn't read as a genre hybrid on paper. It read as a story that happened to use genre. What's a genre you've always wanted to work in, but haven't found the right wound to anchor it yet?

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