Movie and TV writers are on strike in Hollywood for better pay
The strike is being conducted by the Writers Guild of America, the WGA, and was approved in April. This is the first time workers have gone on strike in 15 years, involving more than 11,000 workers. Check out what is known about the strike:
1. Who organized the writers’ strike?
The strike is organized by the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the union to which most screenwriters in Hollywood belong. In total, the WGA represents 11,500 professionals, according to the Portal news agency.
2. What are the authors’ claims?
Above all, the strikers are demanding an increase in wages and greater payment of profits from streaming productions.
According to Portal news agency, professionals say they are struggling with stagnant salaries and that changes in streaming have made life difficult in cities like Los Angeles and New York.
1 of 2 members of the US Writers Union protest outside Fox Studios, November 2007 — Photo: Portal/Chris Pizzello/File Photo Members of the US Writers Union protest outside Fox Studios, November 2007 — Photo: Portal/Chris Pizzello/File Photo
According to WGA statistics, half of television series writers now work for minimum wage, up from a third in the 201314 season. The average salary for screenwriters at the highest writer/producer level has fallen by 4% over the past decade.
Another claim relates to artificial intelligence. According to Portal, the WGA wants guarantees that studios will be prevented from using artificial intelligence to create scripts from authors’ old work. They also want to make sure they aren’t asked to rewrite draft scripts created by the AI.
3. How did the strike come about?
For the past month, the WGA has attempted to negotiate best terms with the Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance (AMPTP), which includes entertainment giants Comcast Corp, Walt Disney, CBS, Viacom, Time Warner Inc. and TwentyFirst Century Fox Inc.
One of the main points of contention, according to the AMPTP, would be the WGA’s requirement to hire a certain number of writers “for a certain period of time, whether they are needed or not”.
2 of 2 Hollywood Sign — Photo: Gabriel BOUYS / AFP Hollywood Sign — Photo: Gabriel BOUYS / AFP
Another contentious issue is the salaries of professionals working on streaming series that remain available for years on platforms like Netflix.
Currently, screenwriters have a fixed annual salary, even if their work has big hits like “Bridgerton” or “Stranger Things” watched by millions of viewers around the world. The WGA calls for a reassessment of these values, which are too low today “in view of the massive international reuse” of these programs.
4. What will happen to the series and films?
Initial impacts will be seen on variety talk shows and sketch comedy attractions with The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live. In these cases, the scripts are written on days close to the exhibition, often even on the same day, and therefore no longer need to be exhibited.
The strike is not expected to affect series and film productions immediately. Most attractions are currently on an extended hiatus between seasons or have scripts already written.
However, if WGA and AMPTP fail to arrive and the outage persists, it can affect and delay the return of programs.
Movies still have longer release dates. However, should the strike continue, titles scheduled for release between 2024 and 2025 could be affected.
5. Have the authors already gone on strike?
Networks aired reruns and more reality shows, while the shutdown cost California’s economy at $2.1 billion, according to the Milken Institute.