Hollywood screenwriters tell us why they’re going on strike

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has gone on strike for the first time since 2007. The entertainment industry has changed considerably in the last decade, thanks in part to the rise of streaming, but the methods by which authors are compensated for their labor have not kept up.Information Guide Nigeria

“Basically, writers are making less money, working shorter gigs, and with less job security,” author and screenwriter Dana Schwartz tells Dazed. To combat what it calls a “existential threat” to its workers, the WGA is demanding higher pay, expanded pension and health-care plans, changes to working conditions, and limitations on how studios can incorporate AI technology into the writing process.

Speaking at a picket line on Tuesday (May 2), the WGA’s chief negotiator said that writers will strike for “as long as it takes to make a fair deal.” The studios have given little indication that they are willing to compromise, so it’s difficult to say how long this might be (the 2007 strike lasted for 100 days.) The effect on Hollywood has been instantaneous, with late-night talk shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Late Night Show With Stephen Colbert already going off-air. Soap operas, which tend to have a quicker writing process, will be next to feel the pinch, and we can expect to see production stalling on network and streaming shows (although some, including House of the Dragon, have decided to go ahead without writers on-set.) Studio films, which are scheduled much further in advance, are less likely to be impacted, but it depends on how long the strike lasts.NYSC Portal

Inevitably, the strike is having a knock-on effect with other workers in the industry, many of whom are already losing pay. “It’s pretty stressful,” says Bianca Perez, a writer who runs the Instagram meme account yung_nihilist and works part-time as an (un-unionised) PA on Saturday Night Live. While the show is off-air, she expects to lose at least a couple of months’ income. “I’m struggling with regard to other forms of employment right now, so I was definitely counting on my work at SNL. I’m kind of in a limbo period at the moment,” she says. But despite the fact that her own finances are taking a hit, she is firmly backing the strikes, as is everyone she works with. “It will definitely trickle down and benefit people who aren’t even part of a union,” she says. “Striking is the only way that any rights have ever been won in the entertainment industry, so it feels like a necessary step.”

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“A writer can write on a huge hit streaming series and never see residuals because of the complicated internal mechanisms of the streaming network”, says Schwartz.

“As our industry has shifted to streaming, the studios have found ways to exploit our time and labour,” Leann Bowen, a screenwriter who works on Ted Lasso, among other shows, tells Dazed. “With each passing year, it seems like there’s a new way for them to restructure our place in the industry.” Compared to the pre-streaming era, there are more production companies and more shows being made, but this doesn’t translate into more paid work. Studios are commissioning shorter seasons and cutting back on labour costs. It used to be standard practice for a team of writers to work on set throughout production, ensuring that their material was shot well, advising the editing process and providing last-minute rewrites when something wasn’t working. Apart from anything, this was important for quality – the second season of Heroes and the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, both shot during a strike without writers on set, were notoriously terrible for this reason. But that approach is dying out. Now, productions typically have just one writer on the set (the show-runner) and they’re responsible for everything, performing a range of tasks which previously would have been split between a whole team. “The streaming model has allowed studios to etch out as much energy and labour from as few people as possible,” says Bowen.JAMB Result

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