![]() ![]() If this was a joke, the answer would probably be “slinging coffee.” But plenty of writers do support their families by working on TV shows and movies, coming up with original ideas to sell to movie studios, adapting existing IP, and doing lots of other writerly things. But this is the first strike since 2007-08. The WGA’s contract is renegotiated every three years. The goal of a strike is to force the AMPTP to negotiate, with the hope of reaching an agreement that both sides sign on to, and a new minimum basic agreement, or MBA - kind of like a minimum wage for writer jobs - with terms that will last for three years. It’s also noticeable to audiences, since some TV shows have to stop production, while others are delayed or truncated. Production slows down or stops, which means that all of the other people who work in the entertainment business - electricians, caterers, set dressers, directors, background actors - have to find other work. When writers strike, the ripple effects can be large, particularly for people who work in TV. I wasn’t planning on it, but lots of people in those sectors would be affected, too.) Members of the WGA on strike in 1988, in Los Angeles. However, I can’t sell any scripts or options to a struck company for the duration of the strike. ![]() (That includes me: I’m a member of the Vox Media Union, which is part of the WGA East, and thus in the online media sector. Members of the WGA who work in broadcast TV, radio, streaming news, online media, nonfiction podcasts, nonfiction TV, and public TV will stay on the job. For most writers, this also means forgoing income from writing for the duration of the strike. No member of the WGA will write new scripts for TV shows or movies until the WGA membership votes to end the strike. In simple terms, a writers strike means that a subset of the members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the labor union to which most working writers in Hollywood belong, will stop working until the WGA reaches an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). So here are five questions about the WGA strike, why it matters, and what it might mean for you and for the future of entertainment. But they’re significant moments in cultural history, and often have to do with different aspects of the business trying to figure out how to deal with the giant technological advances that drive Hollywood.ĪI should scare Hollywood writers - and everyone else At most, we have hazy memories of strikes from years past, maybe wondering why some seasons of The Office seem shorter when we stream them. Writers strikes are something the average person doesn’t have to think about most of the time. ![]() ![]() The WGA membership had previously voted to authorize a strike, by a historic margin: 97.85 percent voted yes. Spending on original streaming content grew from $5 billion in 2019 to $19 billion in 2023 - the lion’s share of it by Netflix, which reported $6 billion in operating profits in 2021 and $5.6 billion in 2022. Meanwhile, according to the WGA’s calculations, industry profits have ballooned from $5 billion in 2000 to $28-$30 billion from 2017-2021. The AMPTP’s counter-proposal is an increase of about $86 million per year. According to the WGA’s proposals chart, the guild’s proposals would gain the writers about $429 million in total per year. The last time there was a writers strike, in 2007-2008, work stopped for 100 days and cost $2.1 billion to California’s economy alone. The WGA’s contract with the AMPTP ended at midnight on May 1.Ī strike carries profound economic implications. “The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing.” “Though we negotiated intent on making a fair deal - and though your strike vote gave us the leverage to make some gains - the studios’ responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing,” the negotiating committee wrote to membership in a letter. After six weeks of negotiation with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the Writers Guild of America - which represents approximately 11,500 people who write the Hollywood shows and movies we watch in theaters and at home - announced that its membership would walk off the job starting at 12:01am PT on May 2. ![]()
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