It’s been sixteen years since Hollywood last halted in a writers’ strike that lasted 100 days and cost the state of California an estimated $2.1 billion in economic losses. Now, after another stoppage was avoided in extremis in 2017, the WGA, the American writers union, has voted in favor of authorize a new strike if an agreement is not reached before May 1.
Practically 98% of the members with the right to vote —9,020 specifically— have shown themselves in favor of temporarily ceasing the activity of not reaching what they consider to be fair terms in the new contracts for film and television productions; a figure that marks a record of participation and percentage of support for the cause.
The WGA negotiating committee, which began talks with the AMPTP — Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — on March 20, thus conveyed the results to union members:
“Our members have spoken. You have expressed your collective strength, your solidarity, and the call for meaningful change with an overwhelming majority. Armed with this show of unity and determination, we will continue to work at the bargaining table to achieve a fair contract for all the scriptwriters”.
The open fronts
This dispute between scriptwriters and producers marks a new chapter in the dynamic established a decade ago and marked by a irruption of streaming which, according to the East Coast and West Coast delegations of the WGA, has Worsened working conditions and income for writers from the country.
To give a specific example, the showrunner of ‘Abbott College’ and union member, Justin Halpernexplained to ABC News how before the streaming era, studios used to order an average of 13-22 episodes for a season of television that allowed the scriptwriters to work in a project during, approximately, 40 weeks.
As opposed, currently only six episodes are orderedwhich forces screenwriters to work simultaneously on several projects already depend on your savings between projects in the words of a Halpern who demystified the figure of the film and television writer:
“The world has a misconception that screenwriters are part of a group of very rich people who drive BMWs and send their kids to private schools. Many of them can’t even pay the rent.”
Another of the open fronts is focused on the proliferation of those known as “mini-room”, writers’ rooms made up of a small group of writers focused on creating a series before it is greenlit by the studio. The problem with them is that, as a general rule, the companies pay the minimum allowable to members of mini-rooms and even dispense with the services of some of the scribes if the shows end up being accepted to enter the production phase.
In addition to this, the WGA is negotiating to improve aspects related to compensation and those known as “residuals” —residual payments for productions broadcast via streaming or distributed in physical format, to give two examples—, the creation of a decent pension plan and health insurance and review of current contracts.
As icing on the cake, the union also demands regulating the use of material produced by artificial intelligence or similar technologies; a thorny issue that has been debated for a while, which will undoubtedly cause more than one headache for the industry and in which the WGA already has an official position.
The UK pitches in
The latest news regarding the WGA strike proposal comes, surprisingly, from across the pond; specifically from a United Kingdom whose writers union, the WGGB, has decided to support the cause and “support shoulder to shoulder our sister union”.
Lisa Holdsworth, President of the WGGBhas recognized that “many of your problems [de la WGA] they are ours” and? “Their struggle is our struggle”adding the following in a statement:
“We hope the WGA will come to an agreement, but we stand ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with our sister union and its members in defending the right of every screenwriter to be paid decently for their work, to be treated with respect and to be financially compensated. for the success of his work, including its use and subsequent sales”.
At the moment, the negotiations between American screenwriters and producers continue, but the time until May 1 is running out, and The consequences of not reaching an agreement could jeopardize the country’s audiovisual industrybeginning with the daily broadcast programs, such as morning and the late night shows and extending to new series in advanced stages of pre-production and to new seasons of already established titles.
We will be aware of any kind of news about it.
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