Carol Lombardini, the doyenne of labor negotiations on behalf of Hollywood’s top companies, is set to step down as the president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers after 15 years at the helm.
The president and chief negotiator of the AMPTP is preparing to transition into an advisory role as the organization conducts a search for her successor, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. “We are incredibly grateful to Carol for her many years of leadership at the AMPTP and wish her the very best in her retirement,” an AMPTP spokesperson stated. “We are glad Carol isn’t going far as she will continue to serve as President while we continue to conduct a full search for her successor, and that she will then move to an advisory role as we continue our transition to the next generation leaders at the AMPTP.”
An AMPTP spokesperson says that Lombardini had long planned to retire in 2025.
Lombardini is getting ready to step down one year after a historic double strike wracked the industry and spurred rampant union-side criticism of the AMPTP and as her group remains locked in negotiations with The Animation Guild. Recently she led labor talks with Communications Workers of America-represented parking coordinators and production assistants, the Directors Guild of Canada’s British Columbia branch, the New York-based crew union IATSE Local 52 and Teamsters-represented casting directors and location department professionals.
She has not taken a lead role in the negotiations with TAG, which began Aug. 12 and hinge on the potentially disruptive role that AI will play in the field moving forward, THR has learned. Lombardini’s top deputy, senior vp business affairs Tracy Cahill, has guided talks on behalf of studios and streamers in her stead, as she has previously, while Lombardini has been briefed.
Lombardini has been with the AMPTP since its inception in 1982, after Paramount, Universal Studios, Walt Disney Studios and MGM joined forces with the member companies of the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers to bargain collectively with labor groups. “Our main purpose,” said the group’s then-president Nick Counter, “is to bring employers back together to speak with one voice when dealing with the guilds and unions in the industry.” (For years, Lombardini was Counter’s No. 2.)
Lombardini became that one voice when she was promoted to president of the alliance in October 2009, beginning a run that for years was free of major unrest. In 2021, the AMPTP narrowly avoided a strike with crew union IATSE, though more than 98 percent of voting members authorized a work stoppage; this year, despite fears that crews could mount the third industry-halting strike in two years, Lombardini kept the labor peace with IATSE and the Hollywood Basic Crafts groups.
That streak, of course, came to a sudden, wrenching halt during the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes. As the work stoppages shut down the industry, Lombardini was portrayed as a villain by certain union members, earning her a parody account on the social media platform X. (That account, which is still active, is run by an anonymous self-described “average working-class mid-level writer.”) Some studio chiefs were believed to be frustrated when four of them — Bob Iger, Donna Langley, David Zaslav and Ted Sarandos — stepped in during the writers’ and actors’ strikes to negotiate settlements. These days it is highly unusual for entertainment CEOs to be included in industry bargaining sessions.
Despite being one of the most powerful women in the business and having the ear of its CEOs, Lombardini has long shied away from the spotlight, including during 2023’s strikes. She prefers to discuss labor disputes within the confines of a conference room (preferably at the AMPTP’s discreet headquarters in the Sherman Oaks Galleria outdoor shopping mall) rather than in headlines. But to those who know her — both allies and opponents — she is considered a shrewd and detail-oriented negotiator who has a near-comprehensive knowledge of the minutia of industry labor contracts.
Said the AMPTP in its statement, “She has been a steady and invaluable advocate at the bargaining table, strengthening relationships with our union partners every step of the way.”
Among colleagues, she’s known as someone who can do the sometimes thankless work of bringing together competitors — disparate studios and streamers — amongst whom little love is lost. Said one management-side insider of Lombardini’s job in 2023, “You’ve got a whole bunch of companies that have different interests that are trying to put a unified case forward. But that’s the miracle of Carol Lombardini, that she’s able to do that, because they don’t all have the same interests.” Said ABC’s longtime labor chief Jeff Ruthizer, “Carol has this horrible job, whipping everyone into shape and finding common ground.” He added, “It’s very stressful.”
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