Thousands of film and television writers strike in Hollywood, California (USA), starting this Tuesday (02). This throws the district into turmoil as the entertainment industry grapples with seismic shifts triggered by the global boom in streaming platforms.
The WGA called its first layoff in 15 years after it failed to reach a deal for higher pay with studios including Walt Disney and Netflix. The latest strike lasted 100 days and cost the California economy more than $2 billion.
Business behavior has created a labor economy [trabalhos pontuais de curta duração] within a unionized workforce, and his adamant stance in this negotiation betrayed a commitment not to further devalue the writing profession.
Writers Guild of America, in a statement
Strike
The WGA represents approximately 11,500 writers in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere. Members were to begin erecting their pickets outside the Hollywood studios starting Tuesday afternoon.
The Alliance of Film and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the studios, said on Monday night that it had offered “generous pay hikes” to screenwriters. But the two sides failed to reach an agreement.
Media companies face tough economic times. The conglomerates are under pressure from Wall Street to make their streaming services profitable after investing billions of dollars in programming to attract subscribers.
The rise of streaming has led to a decline in TV advertising revenue as traditional TV audiences shrink and advertisers move elsewhere. Furthermore, the threat of a recession in the world’s largest economy also looms.
The last WGA strike, between 2007 and 2008, cost the California economy an estimated $2.1 billion. This is because productions have been shut down and writers, actors and producers have gone out of work, to cut costs.
Context
The producers were ready to raise their higher wage offers, the AMPTP said. But “they weren’t willing to do it due to the breadth of the other proposals still on the table that the union continues to insist on”.
The main points of contention, according to the Alliance, were proposals that “would require a company to hire a certain number of writers for a program for a specific period of time, whether necessary or not.”
The union said the studios’ responses to their proposals “have been wholly inadequate, given the existential crisis the writers are facing.” “Companies have broken this business. They took a lot from the same people, the writers, that made them rich,” she added.
The writers say they suffered financially during the streaming TV boom, due in part to shorter seasons and lower payouts.
Half of TV series writers now work for minimum wages, up from a third in the 2013-14 season, according to WGA statistics. The median salary for professionals at the highest level of writer/producer has decreased by 4% over the past decade.
Artificial intelligence enters the picture
AI (artificial intelligence) is another issue on the negotiating table. The union wants safeguards to prevent studios from using AI to generate new scripts from writers’ previous work. Writers also want to make sure they aren’t asked to rewrite drafts of AI-created scripts.
Until the conflicts are resolved, some TV shows will be interrupted. Evening programs such asJimmy Kimmel Live” AND “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon“, which the writing teams use to write jokes, should stop production immediately.
This means that new episodes won’t be available during traditional TV hours or on streaming services that make them available the following day.
Down the road, the strike could delay the US fall TV season. Writing for fall shows typically begins in May or June. If the work stoppage drags on, the networks will increasingly cram their programming lines with reality shows and unscripted reruns.
A prolonged production outage can also be detrimental to local economies, especially for workers who help sustain production, such as drivers, laundries, caterers, carpenters and loggers.
Netflix could be insulated from any immediate impact given its global focus and access to production facilities outside the US.
With information from Reuters AND The New York Times
The post Strike in Hollywood! Screenwriters Take to the Street in Protest first appeared on Olhar Digital.
Source: Olhar Digital
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
