Hollywood’s WGA writers on strike as negotiations over pay, AI fail

After six weeks of unsuccessful negotiations, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which represents thousands of television and film writers, has gone on strike. The negotiations ended on Monday evening without a conclusion, and the WGA’s leadership called for a strike. In an earlier vote in April, WGA membership voted yes to a ballot authorizing a strike.

It is likely that production on TV series and films will stop if there are no writers. Evening talk shows such as The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!Will go offline without writers. Reruns are being played instead of new episodes, according to Deadline.

The companies represented by AMPTP — Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount, and Sony — have “created a gig economy inside a union workforce,” WGA said in a news release. “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.”

WGA released a document outlining its proposals and AMPTP’s responses regarding an increase in pay and residuals, stable writers rooms, improved health coverage, and regulation on the use of artificial intelligence. The WGA reported that tentative agreements had been reached for several proposals. However, AMPTP refused to accept others, including a weekly wage, the preservation of writers’ rooms, viewers-based residuals and AI regulation.

Below you can find the complete document.

Writers Guild of America West

“We have proposals that would prevent the studios from eliminating the writers room; they refused to discuss them,” comedian Adam Conover wrote on Twitter. “We have proposals to protect screenwriters from free work, that would have *COST THEM NOTHING TO IMPLEMENT*: They rejected them and offered an ‘educational meeting.’”

He continued: “We proposed that comedy/variety and daytime writers on streaming have the same pay and protections as they do on TV. Instead, they offered us a minimum that would apply to virtually no shows on the air, oh and also, they want to start paying you by the day.”

The AMPTP said it presented a “comprehensive package proposal” that included “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals.” Its “primary sticking points” are “mandatory staffing” and “duration of employment,” the AMPTP said in its news release. These are both related to the increased reliance on “mini rooms,” which are scaled-down writers rooms — two or three writers that help a showrunner write a script at a lower rate, often Then,The show was greenlit. It’s a practice that’s making writing jobs more precarious and decreasing pay overall, writers say. The WGA’s current proposal is asking for a minimum of six writers in pre-greenlight rooms with a minimum for post-greenlight writers rooms, too. In terms of the length of work for writers, pre-greenlighting rooms will give them at least ten weeks consecutively, while other minimums are set up again for post-greenlighting rooms.

WGA & AMPTP typically negotiate new agreements every 3 years. Last year, the two groups came to an agreement just after the expiration of their previous contract. Strikes were avoided. WGA writers were last on strike 100 days ago in 2007. We can estimate the impact of the strike based on history, but it won’t be entirely similar this time around. The advent of streaming means platforms like Netflix bank series in advance, meaning we won’t necessarily see an impact there for a while. Strikes will affect writers, producers and others who have lost their jobs. No one wants a strike, but writers feel it’s important nonetheless to push back on studio leadership.

As WGA and AMPTP work toward a resolution, AMPTP will begin preparing for negotiations with actors represented by the Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and directors with the Directors Guild of America; both contracts expire in June.

Ed. note:Writers Guild of America – East represents the Vox Media Union. Polygon is a member of this union. The contract we have is different from the one that TV and film writers sign.