This week, Hollywood television and movie writers are concluding a critical vote as they seek to pressure media companies into raising their pay or face a strike. Negotiators for the Writers
Guild of America (WGA) are requesting that their roughly 11,500 members give them the authority to call a strike if contract talks fail after May 1. The voting concludes on Monday and the results are expected to be released shortly after. Writers have argued that their pay has been affected by the streaming revolution, which has led to shorter TV seasons and smaller residual payments. They are calling on companies such as Netflix and Walt Disney to increase their pay.
The WGA is looking for increases in minimum salaries and changes to the practices that reduce pay, such as hiring smaller "mini-rooms" of writers before production. Guild statistics show that half of TV series writers are now working at minimum salary levels compared to one-third in the 2013-2014 season. Additionally, the median pay for writers at the higher writer/producer level has decreased by 4% over the past decade. However, studios have stated that budgets are tight during a period when Wall Street wants to see profits from multi-billion dollar streaming investments, which are draining balance sheets.
A prolonged strike could be costly, with the last WGA strike, in 2007 and 2008, lasting for 100 days, leading to TV networks broadcasting reruns and more reality shows. The cost to the California economy was estimated at $2.1 billion, according to the Milken Institute. Studios do not want another disruption, especially after the pandemic shut down production worldwide for months. While film and television work has rebounded, movie-going remains below pre-pandemic levels, and the broadcast television business is struggling, as viewers and ad dollars shift to streaming.
If the strike is called, the impact would first be seen on late-night talk shows, which use teams of writers to pen topical jokes. Daytime soap operas would be next. Many comedies and dramas are filmed months in advance, so they would have a longer lead time before fresh episodes would run out. However, movies are written at least two years in advance, so near-term releases in cinemas would not be affected. Photo by Clementp.fr, Wikimedia commons.