Anonymous studio execs reportedly said they're willing to let writers be on strike until they're homeless. A writer from FX's hit 'The Bear' show called the comments 'vile' and the 'worst possible PR move.'

• Thousands of members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike for nearly three months.
• Studios are willing to drag the strike on for months, even as an actors' strike looms, per Deadline.

For nearly three months, members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have forgone pay to be on strike as they negotiate a new contract with Hollywood studios through the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

WGA's ask from studios includes better working conditions and pay in light of the streaming era as well as stipulations around the use of artificial intelligence. So far, the two parties remain locked in dispute. And as WGA pushes to hold the line — with some members telling Insider that they've sought second jobs to pay rent — studios are willing to let the writers continue to bleed, according to a Deadline report.

Hollywood insiders, including an unnamed studio executive, told Deadline that the plan is to let the strike drag on for several more months until writers start to run out of money.

"The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses," one unnamed studio executive told the entertainment publication. Deadline also spoke with other unnamed insider sources that confirmed the studios' approach.

AMPTP has denied that the statements reflect the association's thinking. A spokesperson told Insider that "these anonymous people are not speaking on behalf of the AMPTP or member companies who are committed to reaching a deal and getting our industry back to work."

Skepticism and chatter have swirled around the reported comments in Deadline and what the intentions behind the statements were if they do reflect AMPTP's rationale.

A writer for FX's "The Bear," which won a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Series, told Insider that he believes the comments were a scare tactic.

"In the worst possible PR move they could've done...they've decided to go nuclear," Alex O'Keefe, who was a writer on the first season of "The Bear," said in an interview, describing the comments in the Deadline article as "vile."

O'Keefe has been an outspoken WGA member throughout the strike. In an interview with The New Yorker, the writer recalled how he attended the WGA Award ceremony with a negative bank account balance and in an outfit purchased on credit.

"It's a very regular-degular, working-class existence," O'Keefe previously said of his life as a writer.

Writers may also soon be joined by SAG-AFTRA members (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), which includes about 160,000 TV, film, and radio actors if studios do not reach an agreement with the actors' union by Thursday midnight.

Like the writers' union, SAG-AFTRA is seeking increased wages and residual payments as well as regulations around the use of artificial intelligence.

O'Keefe said he's not deeply involved with the SAG-AFTRA negotiations but suspects that a contract by midnight is highly unlikely unless the deal is "truly historic" and represents a "true concession."

Spokespersons for WGA and SAG-AFTRA did not respond to a request for comment.

O'Keefe acknowledged that writers are facing "extreme stress" and "fear" during the strike and in light of the Deadline report.

For the writer, O'Keefe said there's a huge risk in putting himself at the forefront of the strike and talking with the media.

"I'm not even sure if there will be a career for me on the other side (of the strike)," he said.

But seeing the comments from the studio executive have also "lit the greatest fire they could've possibly lit," according to O'Keefe, who said he'll also be preparing for the impending SAG-AFTRA strike.

"We have fear there's no doubt about that ... but we've transformed our fear into solidarity," he said. "Yes, we are struggling but we are taking care of each other."

O'Keefe also had a few choice words for the studios: "You can put this in print. Fuck them. Fuck the AMPTP."