After several weeks of suspense, the screenwriters announced that they were going on strike, according to their union, on Tuesday May 2. Thousands of American television and film screenwriters are demanding higher pay in Hollywood.
Major studios and platforms, including Disney and Netflix, were in talks with the powerful writers’ union, Writers Guild of America (WGA), but no deal was reached, the platforms said. Board members of the powerful writers’ union, Writers Guild of America (WGA), “acting under the authority bestowed upon them by their members, voted unanimously in favor of an appeal to strike” which will take effect after midnight (9 a.m. CET on Tuesday), the WGA tweeted.
The Board of Directors of the @WGAwest and the Council of the @WGAeast, acting upon the authority granted to them by their memberships, have voted unanimously to call a strike, effective 12:01 AM, Tuesday, May 2.
The studios’ responses to the requests were “grossly inadequate, given the existential crisis the screenwriters face,” the WGA said.
The announced strike could result in the immediate hiatus of hit shows, such as late-night shows, and significantly delay TV series and movies slated for release this year. The last major social movement in Hollywood dates back to the scriptwriters’ strike which paralyzed the American audiovisual sector in 2007-2008. A 100-day conflict that had cost the sector $2 billion.
Screenwriters are demanding higher pay and a bigger share of streaming profits as studios say they need to cut costs due to economic pressures. The screenwriters say they are struggling to make a living from their craft, with salaries stagnating or even falling due to inflation, while their employers are making profits and increasing the salaries of their executives. They believe that they have never been so numerous to work at the minimum wage set by the unions, while the television networks hire fewer people to write increasingly short series.
The WGA accuses the studios of seeking to create a “gig economy”, the gig economy, in which screenwriting work is “an entirely freelance profession”. The AMPTP – the Alliance of Film and Television Producers – claimed to have presented a “comprehensive proposal” including an increase in screenwriters’ pay but was unwilling “to improve this offer given the magnitude of the other requests”.
According to its press release, the WGA’s demands for a “compulsory endowment,” which would compel studios to hire a set number of writers “for a given period, whether they are needed or not,” is one of the main points of disagreement.
For decades, screenwriters have collected “residual rights” for the reuse of their works, for example in TV reruns or DVD sales. It is either a percentage of the revenue earned by the studios for the film or show, or a fixed sum paid for each rerun of an episode. With streaming, authors receive a fixed amount each year, even if their work is a worldwide success, such as the series Bridgerton or Stranger Things, seen by hundreds of millions of viewers around the world.
The WGA is calling for the revaluation of these amounts, which are now “far too low in view of the massive international reuse” of these programs. She also wants to discuss the future impact of artificial intelligence on the screenwriting profession.
The studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), point out that “residual rights” paid to screenwriters reached an all-time high of $494 million in 2021, up from $333 million a decade ago. earlier, thanks in large part to the explosion of screenwriter jobs linked to the rise in demand for streaming.
Having been spendthrift in recent years, when rival broadcasters have sought to boost subscriber numbers at all costs, the bosses say they are now under heavy pressure from investors to cut spending and make profits.
And they deny pretexting economic difficulties to strengthen their position in negotiations with screenwriters. “Do you think Disney would lay off 7,000 people just for fun? said a source close to the AMPTP. According to her, “there’s only one platform that’s profitable right now, and that’s Netflix.” The film industry “is also a very competitive industry”.
