Hollywood’s 15-year labor peace was shattered Monday night, as film and television writers said they would go on strike, halting many productions and dealing a blow to an industry shaken in recent years by the pandemic and sweeping technological shifts .
The unions representing the writers said in a statement that they had “voted unanimously to call a strike”. Writers begin picket lines Tuesday afternoon. Their three-year contract was due to expire at midnight Pacific time on Monday.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of Hollywood companies, said in a statement that its offer included “generous increases in writers’ compensation.” The organization said it was willing to negotiate further.
The main sticking points, according to the studios, relate to union proposals that would require companies to staff television programs with a certain number of writers for a certain period of time “whether necessary or not”.
The unions representing the writers, the East and West chapters of the Writers Guild of America, said: “The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy within a unionized workforce, and their unwavering stance in these negotiations betrays a determination to further devalue the economy. profession of writer.”
The dispute has pitted 11,500 screenwriters against the big studios, including old-guard entertainment companies like Universal and Paramount, as well as tech industry newcomers like Netflix, Amazon and Apple.
The WGA painted the dispute in stark terms, saying the rise of streaming services and the explosion of television production have eroded their working conditions. It has described this as an “existential” moment, and that “the survival of writing as a profession is at stake in this negotiation.”
Entertainment companies, which had previously said they approach talks with “the long-term health and stability of the industry as our priority,” are facing a rapidly changing business as viewership on network and cable television plummets.
For viewers, the most immediate effect will be felt on talk shows and sketch shows. Late night shows like “Saturday Night Live,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” are likely to go out immediately. Reality series and some international shows, which are not covered by the guild, will be broadcast in heavy rotation.
It would take a long strike for a delay in the arrival of new TV shows and movies as the production process for them can take months or more than a year.
A prolonged stoppage of production can also be detrimental to local economies, especially the workers who help support production, such as drivers, suit dry cleaners, caterers, carpenters and sawmillers. When the writers last went on strike for 100 days in 2007, the Los Angeles economy lost an estimated $2.1 billion.
Seth Meyers, the host of NBC’s 12:30 late night show, alluded to the devastation of the latest strike in a segment late last week.
“It doesn’t just affect the writers,” Mr. Meyers said in the web-only video. “It affects all of the incredible non-writing staff on these shows. And it would be a really miserable thing for people to have to go through, especially considering we’re on the heels of that horrible pandemic.”
Mr Meyers said he was a proud member of the WGA and strongly believed that what the writers were asking was “not unreasonable”.
“If you don’t see me here next week, just know it’s something not done lightly, and I’ll be devastated to miss you too,” he said.
The writers have expressed numerous grievances. In a very timely twist, the writers attempt to place important guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence. But the most pressing issue for them is compensation.
Over the past decade, a period often referred to as Peak TV, the number of scripted TV shows broadcast in the United States has increased dramatically. However, writers said their salary has stagnated.
In the network television era, a writer could work on a show with more than 20 episodes per season, providing a steady income for an entire year. However, in the streaming era, episode orders have fallen to 8 or 12, and the average weekly wage for a writer-producer has fallen slightly, according to the WGA.
The writers also want to fix the residual payment formula, which has been shaken up by streaming. Years ago, writers could receive residual payments every time a show was licensed — in syndication or through DVD sales. But global streaming services like Netflix and Amazon have cut off those distribution arms and instead pay a fixed resale value.
The unions have focused in particular on so-called mini-rooms, which have increased enormously in the past ten years. There is no one definition of a mini room. But in one example, studios convene a small group of writers before a show is officially given the green light to write a script. But writers are often paid less to work in mini-rooms, WGA officials have said.
Writers have also said that the sudden growth of mini-rooms has also disrupted the decades-long art of learning how to make a television show. Mike Schur, the creator of “The Good Place” and co-creator of “Parks and Recreation,” said in an interview that when he was a young writer for “The Office,” he learned how to write a script, rewrite , editing , work with actors and became familiar with specialized crafts such as set design and sound mixing.
“These are not things you can read in a book,” he said. “These are things you have to experience.”
But because of mini-rooms, writers are sent home after as little as 10 weeks and often aren’t around for the production process at all, he said.
“These companies don’t understand what’s coming at the pike,” he said. “And what’s lurking is a whole generation of showmakers who might be super talented, who might have a lot to say about the world, but functionally don’t know how to do the work they’re going to be asked to do.”
However, studio executives have said privately that they have their own issues, and now is not the best time to give significant raises.
For years, Wall Street rewarded media companies for investing in their streaming services at all costs to grow their subscriber base. But investors soured on that philosophy last year, prompting studio executives to find a way to turn their money-losing streaming services into profit engines.
The consequences have been brutal. Disney is in the process of laying off 7,000 employees. Warner Bros. Discovery laid off thousands and shelved titles last year as it attempted to pay off a debt of about $50 billion. Other media companies have taken similar cost-cutting measures.
That said, executives have also claimed they can weather a strike. Last month, David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery: “We’re ready, we’ve produced a lot of content.” Two weeks ago, Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-chief executive, suggested that the streaming service would be better protected than its competitors due to the number of unscripted and foreign series it has in production. “We could probably serve our members better than most,” he said.
Still, he admitted that the consequences of a strike would be significant.
“The last time there was a strike, it was devastating for the makers,” Sarandos said. “It was very difficult in the industry. It was painful for local economies that support production and it was very, very, very bad for the fans.”
Screenwriters have run away six times in the last few decades. Historically, they have had the stomach for a prolonged strike. In addition to the 100-day strike in 2007, the writers also walked on picket lines for 153 days in 1988. Writers have also shown signs of remarkable unity. By mid-April, 98 percent of the more than 9,000 writers represented by the union agreed to strike.
The writers will hold demonstrations in New York and Los Angeles, where most of the entertainment companies are based.
Images of picket signs have already appeared on social media, with slogans such as “Scripts don’t grow on trees!” and “The future of writing is at stake!”
