Film and television writers strike in Hollywoodthereby “slowing down” many industries and dealing another blow to an industry that has already faced difficulties in recent years due to the pandemic and the rapid development of technology.

The unions representing the screenwriters said in a statement that the decision to strike was unanimous. Mobilization is expected to begin today, Tuesday, the first day after their three-year contracts expire.

Board of Directors @WGAwest and Council @WGAeastacting under the powers conferred on them by their membership, voted unanimously to declare a strike, effective at 00:01 on Tuesday, 2 May.

— Writers Guild of Western America (@WGAWest) May 2, 2023

The Motion Picture and Television Producers Association, which negotiates on behalf of Hollywood companies, said in a statement that its offer included “a generous increase in writers’ compensation.” The agency added that it remains ready to continue negotiations.

The main points of contention, according to the studios, are union proposals for companies to staff TV shows with a certain number of writers for a certain period of time, “regardless of whether it is necessary or not.”

Both the eastern and western chapters of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have said that corporate behavior has created a “gig economy” among the union workforce, and argue that “their continued negotiating stance indicates an intent to further devalue the screenwriting profession.”

“The industry is broken”

“Screenwriters were underestimated for a while, but the transition to the streaming model made the situation desperate. The industry is broken, writers can’t make a living,” Chris Keizer, screenwriter and WGA negotiating committee member, said in March.

The launch of Neftlix and other similar platforms led to a huge increase in the number of new producers, but not to an increase in the pay of most writers, who ended up earning less in the era of streaming.

“It’s like seeing a bunch of Ubers on the street and thinking now is the time to be a taxi driver,” notes the Los Angeles lawyer, adding: “Working as a screenwriter is much more difficult than it used to be. Salary level, attitude and expectations – everything fundamentally different compared to what it was before.”

Under the traditional model of broadcast television in America, the writers produced about 22 scripts per season and received royalties if the show was successful. However, streaming series are much shorter, often as short as 8-10 episodes, greatly limiting the writers’ profits.

According to an industry lawyer, the studios have also reduced the number of writers for series, leading to the emergence of so-called “mini-rooms” – small teams that “write scripts in less time with fewer writers.”

^{Source: New York Times, Financial Times.}