As the WGA (Writer’s Guild of America) mark Day 3 of their strike, creatives of all roles in Hollywood are picketing for higher pay, residuals, rights against artificial intelligence and more.
The Guild wrote, “We have not reached an agreement with the studios and streamers. We will be on strike after the contract expires at midnight (May 2nd). [Your] WGA Negotiating Committee spent the last six weeks negotiating with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony under the umbrella of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).”
Leave it to the writers to have the best Picket Sign lines:
You want the funny? Show us the money.
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Show us our Marvelous Mrs. Money
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Chat GBT doesn’t have childhood trauma.
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Do the WRITE thing.
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Actors and SAG have stood with the WGA
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Pay your writers or we’ll spoil Succession.
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A statement to the WGA members reads:
Over the course of the negotiation, we explained how the companies’ business practices have slashed our compensation and residuals and undermined our working conditions. Our chief negotiator, as well as writers on the committee, made clear to the studios’ labor representatives that we are determined to achieve a new contract with fair pay that reflects the value of our contribution to company success and includes protections to ensure that writing survives as a sustainable profession. We advocated on behalf of members across all sectors: features, episodic television, and comedy-variety and other non-prime-time programs, by giving them facts, concrete examples, and reasonable solutions. Guild members demonstrated collective resolve and support of the agenda with a 97.85% strike authorization.
Though we negotiated intent on making a fair deal—and though your strike vote gave us the leverage to make some gains—the studios’ responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing. The companies’ behavior 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. 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 for all writers, they have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.
Therefore, earlier today the Negotiating Committee unanimously rejected the AMPTP’s final offer before deadline and recommended to the WGAW Board and WGAE Council the issuance of a strike order. Based on that recommendation, the Board and Council unanimously voted to strike after the current MBA’s expiration at midnight tonight.
A strike by the WGAW and WGAE against all companies signatory to the 2020 MBA will begin on Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at 12:01 am PT/3:01 am ET.
Read more about the WGA strike here.
