On Monday, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) declared that 11,500 unionised screenwriters will be going on strike and all scriptwriting will immediately cease, as talks with studios and streamers on pay and other conditions have ended without a deal.
This dispute over fair pay has pitted thousands of Hollywood writers against major studios like Disney and Paramount as well as OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon and Apple, shattering 15 years of labour peace in America’s entertainment business.
Negotiations between studios and the writers began in March, however, they failed to reach a new contract before the writers’ current deal expired just after midnight on Tuesday. All script writing is to immediately cease, the guild informed its members.
The board of directors for the WGA said that writers are facing an “existential crisis” and voted unanimously to call for a strike, effective at the stroke of midnight.
“The companies’ behaviour has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing,” the WGA said in a statement.
“From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a ‘day rate’ in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI [artificial intelligence] for all writers, they have closed the door on their labour force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.”
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade association that bargains on behalf of studios and production companies, signalled on Monday that negotiations fell short of an agreement before the current contract expired. The AMPTP said it presented an offer with “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals”.
In a statement, the AMPTP said that it was prepared to improve its offer “but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon”.
The labour dispute could have a cascading effect on TV and film productions depending on how long the strike persists. But a shutdown has been widely forecast for months due to the scope of the discord. Last month, the writers voted overwhelmingly to authorise a strike, with 98 per cent of the membership in support.
(With inputs from agencies)
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