The End of The Writer's Strike
Earlier this year, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which represents the majority of television writers in Hollywood, went on strike against The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP); One hundred and forty eight days later, the strike has ended.
The simultaneous rise of streaming services and artificial intelligence has long concerned many people in the film industry, as shorter TV seasons and the use of AI writing tools over human writers have severely hurt the pay and employment of writers. On May 2nd of 2023, discontent within the industry led to a massive strike. Among the Guild’s main demands are an increase in residual fees — a type of royalty relating to streaming media — an increase in minimum staffing at major studios, and assurance that artificial intelligence won’t be used to compromise or replace human writers.
Due to the immense pressure put on the TV industry due to the lack of writers, the AMPTP conceded to almost all of the Guild’s demands. The deal was, by all measures, a success for the Writer’s Guild, and its members reacted as such. Negotiators for the WGA celebrated the news, framing it as an important victory against Hollywood’s corrupt studios. The studios themselves reserved their comments on the issue, leading many to believe they are dissatisfied with the provisions of the deal.
With the strike done, California's economy can return to normal. Hollywood accounts for around 5% of the state's GDP, meaning the prolonged strike has cost them billions. Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, celebrated the writer's victory while also admitting that he was happy to see the economy recover.
Writers are back in business, but the actors are still on an indefinite strike. Represented by the union SAG-AFTRA, the large majority of Hollywood actors have been striking since July 14th for similar reasons to the WGA. AI, residual fees, and staffing were all mentioned as principal concerns, in addition to general wage increases.
Due to their minimal use of actors, talk shows and other types of reality TV are expected to resume schedule. On the other hand, more serialized shows have been indefinitely delayed. Stranger Things, the long running Netflix science fiction series, was expected to have its 5th season announced by this point, but so far there has been no word on it.
As of now, no major headway has been made on the actors front. Studios have cited the demands for increased streaming revenue for actors as completely unattainable. Despite this, Fran Drescher, the leader of the SAG-AFTRA union, has vowed to continue negotiations with the major studios. Evidently, Drescher and the over 130,000 members of the union are not satisfied with the tentative agreement reached by the WGA, as she congratulated the success of the writers deal, but stated that "One size doesn't fit all."
The subject of these recent negotiations is actor stability. SAG-AFTRA has asked studios for more generous relocation costs for out of state actors, as well as shorter breaks between seasons of television. Both of these things, the union says, will serve to bring stability to actors' careers after they were shaken by the rise of streaming in the wake of COVID-19.
Emboldened by the success of the writers strike, SAG-AFTRA is hoping to secure an advantageous deal within the next few weeks.
By Christopher Eckl