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The Hollywood Writers Union went on strike again, which could bring a series of consequences for television and cinema in the United States
Once again the writers show their strength in Hollywood and the Writers Union of the United States (WGA for its acronym in English) broke out the strike in the first minute of May 2, 2023, with consequences that could be devastating.
The demands of the Writers Union are a better distribution of the profits generated by films and programs that are distributed on digital platforms, which in the last decade have become the right arm of the studios to bring their proposals to more audiences. .
Especially since 2020, the pandemic was a stage where the different studios evaluated their new strategies and managed to reach more homes, which has resulted in billionaire profits, from which the writers saw no benefit.
The show shall not go on
After not reaching an agreement with the studios and television channels, the 11,500 members of the WGA raised the red and black flags and with this the creatives of Hollywood enter into a power struggle with the most important studios in the film industry. .
The first affected by this strike in the United States are the late night show format programs, since the scriptwriters are the ones who give order and coherence to the different segments of these shows.
Last night a lot of A-list celebs were asked if they support the writers’ strike.
Jimmy Fallon said, “I wouldn’t have a show if it wasn’t for my writers, I support them all the way.”
Who else supports the strike? Thread. pic.twitter.com/EjlRWiRXd3
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) May 2, 2023
The actor Jimmy Fallon, who heads the nightly program on NBC, has shown his support for the writers, and for this reason they will go on hiatus indefinitely. The same will happen with the legendary Saturday Night Live program, which depends on its writers and creatives to reach millions of viewers Saturday by Saturday in the American Union.
As a consequence of this strike, some television networks will use reality show formats, since these programs are not under the control of the WGA members, and in this way they will not incur
Will there be movies at risk of being cancelled?
One of the sectors that will be significantly affected by this strike is the cinema, since there are currently more than 50 projects underway, either in pre-production or filming.
Some films from the most important studios are not in danger, such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 or Flash, to give examples, since both productions have already gone through the editing room and their premieres are not at risk of being rescheduled.
Other productions had to stop their work, since during the filming the scriptwriters make some adjustments to the plot so that it works in the best way, and without the authors of these stories, the productions cannot advance.
The same case occurs for television series and digital platforms, which largely depend on scripts and their creatives, who have also joined this strike, stopping the production of script-based programs.
Ghosts of the past
Between 2007 and 2008 the WGA had its most recent strike. Where its members fought for better wages and decent working conditions for their union.
Throughout the 100 days that this strike lasted, the television networks that depend on their series had to adjust their programming, and some series had to be canceled or their seasons were shortened.
While in the cinema movies were cancelled. Such was the case of Justice League: Mortal, a film directed by George Miller that raised the union of the most important heroes of DC Comics on the big screen.
Source: AFP / CNN / SMASH Mexico