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Protesters hold signs during the Screenwriter’s Strike in New York City on May 2, 2023.
Leonardo Munoz | AFP | Getty Images
Hollywood writers are officially heading to the picket line, halting production on a slate of film and TV projects in the process.
More than 11,000 film and television writers, who say their compensation is disproportionate to the revenue generated in the broadcast era, have gone on strike for the first time since 2007-08. This downtime lasted 100 days and disrupted production on many series and films.
Members of the Writers Guild of America are set to begin walking picket lines Tuesday afternoon. Under strike rules, they are banned from doing work on any TV or movie projects for the duration of the hiatus.
Immediately, this would have a huge impact on the night’s shows, as writers are tasked with crafting jokes that are timely and topical. Production of daily shows, including “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” is expected to wind down this week.
The late night hosts were in favor of the strike, offering segments in support of their writing staff. “I wouldn’t have a show without my writers, I support them all the way,” Fallon said of the strike, which took place Monday during the annual Met Gala in New York City. “I couldn’t do the show without them.”
Pictured: (lr) Bowen Yang as “The Iceberg That Sank the Titanic” and Lt. Colin Jost during Weekend Update on Saturday, April 10, 2021.
NBC | NBCUniversal | Getty Images
Other timed shows, such as NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” may be closed this week. It’s not clear what kind of immediate impact the strike will have on daytime talk shows, which often rely more on interviews and banter between the hosts than monologues or scripted jokes.
Meanwhile, scripted comedies and dramas may have to cut their seasons or delay filming. If the strike continues into the summer, the fall televised season will also be delayed, as preparations usually begin in late spring and summer.
Depending on the duration of the strike, home viewers and moviegoers may not notice the impact of the strike until it is over. This is because many shows and movies have already finished production and will enter the market unaffected by the strike.
However, if the strike is prolonged, production shutdowns will catch up to content release schedules, as they have during the pandemic. Theatrical releases likely won’t be affected until the fourth quarter of 2023 or early 2024.
This is the first hit of its kind during the broadcast era. Streamers have relatively more flexibility than networks and theaters and can choose to promote older content on their platforms or license material from other countries in order to fill their libraries in the event of a content shortage.
The strike is the second of its kind in nearly four decades. The length of the recent strike encouraged the growth of unscripted reality shows. This stroke can also be long. Prior to the deadline, the two parties were said to be far apart on a number of key negotiating issues.
The WGA is seeking higher compensation and residuals, particularly when it comes to airing shows, as well as new rules that require studios to staff television shows with a certain number of writers for a specified period. The syndicate also seeks compensation throughout the pre-production, production, and post-production process. Currently, writers are often expected to submit revisions or draft new material without being paid.
What’s different this time
The film and television landscape is drastically different than it was in 2007, and the changes brought about by the broadcast era are at the core of this strike.
While the explosion of streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ has created a glut of TV shows and movies, the WGA says its writers don’t see the needed benefits. Instead, they feel shorthanded in compensation as studios, networks, and streaming platforms write a new rulebook in real time. Thus, they seek pay increases, as well as structural changes to the business model that underpins the shows and films they write for.
According to WGA Statistics, the average writer and producer The salary has decreased 4%, or 23% when adjusted for inflation, over the past decade, while streaming platforms have become increasingly popular.
Still from “Stranger Things” season 3, with the Hawkins crew on the cusp of adulthood and facing enemies old and new.
Netflix
“Companies have used the transition to live broadcasting to lower writer’s pay and separate writing from production, which has led to deteriorating working conditions for soap opera writers at all levels,” the union said in a statement. March note.
WGA writers particularly dealt with series length in the broadcast era, which tended to run fewer episodes than broadcast programs. The book says this made it difficult to generate a steady income. The growth of broadcasting has also eliminated residual fees, as writers earn every time a show is published or broadcast abroad.
Unlike the 2007 strike, writers currently have social media on their side and are gathering on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok to get their message across.
Adam Conover, creator of “Adam Breaks It All” and “The G Word with Adam Conover,” wrote in a tweet. “It’s going to be tough, but we’re going to win, because we’re going to stand together, be true to each other, and fight for each other. And when we do, we win.”
What the studios offer
In recent years, media companies have faced a challenging economic landscape, as studios and broadcasting companies have faced pressure to make their streaming platforms profitable. many studios and companies, Including Netflix, they cut back on content spending while trying to turn a profit. The popularity of broadcasting has also depressed traditional networks’ television advertising revenues.
Producers argued that the broadcast business was new and that studios and networks still did not know what profit margins would look like in the future.
The Mandalorian and the Child in the Disney+ movie “The Mandalorian”.
Disney
The Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance, which represents networks, streamers, and studios, said it had provided “generous compensation increases” to the writers, and “improvements in tailings flow”.
According to AMPTP, the primary sticking points in the negotiations were over union proposals that would require companies to offer employees with an allotted number of writers, whether or not they are needed, for certain time periods.
While producers have said they are willing to increase their offers for higher and residual wages, there have been concerns about the “volume” of other offers from the WGA still on the table, according to AMPTP.
Among those is a proposal that material produced through AI or similar technologies be curated more carefully so that studios cannot use AI to undercut writers or undercut compensation.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is an entertainment company represented by the Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance. Some of NBCUniversal News Group’s editorial staff are represented by the Writers Guild of America.
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