Things have changed since the last big writers’ strike
The Effects of the Last Writer’s Strike on Television Production, Health, and Pension: A Perspective from the Hollywood Writers’ Union
Sarandos said the last writer’s strike, in 2007, was “devastating” for everyone, including viewers. Hollywood production shut down for 100 days, and the local economy lost an estimated $2.1 billion. The effect on viewers was felt immediately on late night TV shows and other daily productions.
The union wants to increase minimum wage rates and residuals pay, address mini-rooms and make the health and pension plan more generous. Artificial intelligence should not be used to write content or to rewrite work already done by human writers, according to the WGA.
A report published by the union on March 14th found that half of TV series writers are currently being paid the basic minimum rate, up from 33 percent between 2013-2014. The companies used the transition to streaming to cut writer pay and separate writing from production, worsening working conditions for series writers at all levels according to the WGA.
Still, Alex O’Keefe, one of the writers of the Hulu series The Bear, says that the writers aren’t getting a fair cut of what studios are making. He told NPR that he was grateful to work on a show about the everyday struggles of Americans. “But at the same time, I’ve seen that there’s complete lack of care towards our working conditions. It’s difficult to produce content that makes them millions and millions of dollars.
When the ABC network re-aired an episode she wrote, Britanni used to be able to live off her residuals. She got half her original writing fee each time. Now, when her episodes are sold to the streamers, she gets just 5.5 percent of her writing fee. The checks are $3, $7, and $10. It’s not enough to put together any sort of consistent lifestyle,” she told NPR. “It can really be a real shock. … Sometimes you receive a stack of checks for $0.07.
“Effectively they’re creating shows, albeit shortened-season shows, for a fraction of the price,” Fortmueller said. Instead of paying writers more over a longer time, she added, streaming companies are “asking them to do a lot more heavy lifting in a much shorter amount of time.”
The WGA is Going Through a “Diamondization”: Why WGA Writers Shouldn’t Be Trapped
“I live a very working class existence and there’s nothing to be ashamed about it,” he says. I don’t know what I can do to survive in this business.
It could be back to a really bad situation where I’m not able to pay my rent. Someone who’s going to be a decade into their careers, and working for an award-winning television show, shouldn’t have that happen to them. I don’t believe anyone will look at my career and think that person still has to worry, but that’s just where things are right now.
She said that it’s a common tactic studios use to create scripts for six- or eight-episode seasons. Writers in mini rooms often earn union guaranteed minimum rates for short assignments rather than joining a show for what could be a successful and lucrative run, claims that lead to claims that they are being treated as gig workers.
We have a large number of shows and films from all over the world. We could probably serve our members better than most,” Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, told investors during a recent earnings call. “We do have a pretty robust slate of releases to take us into a long time.”
In 2007, and 2008, the last time the WGA was on strike, the state lost more than 2 billion dollars due to the recession.
An Analysis of the Tension Between the AMPTP and Streaming Labor Relations in a Time-Varying Media Industry: Are They Genuinely Connecting?
The AMPTP provided a statement that claims it had offered generous increases in compensation that included an improvement in streaming residuals and was willing to improve that offer. It was unwilling to compromise on the union’s demands for “mandatory staffing” and “duration of employment” however, saying these “primary sticking points” would require companies to staff shows with writers even if they’re not needed.
A lot of tension has arisen between the two unions in regards to contracts for several years now. The last full-fledged contract negotiations took place in 2017, reaching a tentative agreement minutes after the previous contract expiration deadline had passed. The covid pandemic then made it difficult for both sides to negotiate terms for the following three-year contract agreement in 2020.
“Nobody cared if you went on strike in spring of 2020. It just didn’t matter, because nobody was working anyway,” Kate Fortmueller, an assistant professor of entertainment and media studies at the University of Georgia, told NPR.
She said that they have not seen them as part of the negotiations in the past. “So I think that’s not necessarily a wild card, but it does change some of the stakes.”
Video game companies and streaming companies share key characteristics, she said, noting the tech industry’s labor conditions and standards differ from those in Hollywood.
The writers’ room: shrinking it into mini rooms, and why people want to spend their time watching a full-length show, not just the full show
The growth of streaming shows is linked to a controversial topic: the shrinking of writers’ rooms, into “mini rooms,” where there are fewer writers than a traditional room would employ. mini rooms get by with a few writers on a short term basis, where some rooms normally employed around seven writers.
The writers are not kept on the payroll for long periods of time due to this arrangement where they are paid the union minimum rather than their normal fees.
“I’m doing absolutely all of the work that I would do in a full writers room, and I’m paid a fraction of my normal quote,” one writer recently told Indie Wire.
ethical questions were raised by the strike as a viewer. She said there were many shows to watch, and only a limited amount of time. But she also wants to support full-length shows, and the writers behind them.
“It’s probably better for me to invest my time in shows that have better working conditions, that are helping keep people employed,” she said. But when people reach decision fatigue, she added, “the lure of the minimal commitment is pretty strong.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/03/1173439467/writers-guild-strike-2023-comparison-2007
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The last big strike lasted more than three months, stretching from 2007 into 2008. Back then, people were up in arms over the fate of beloved shows like Grey’s Anatomy. In the meantime, they fired up their DVD players to watch early seasons of The Wire and binge shows like Friday Night Lights and My So-Called Life.
Those who kept tuning into TV found expanded reality TV offerings, such as Project Runway and The Biggest Loser, that are defined as unscripted shows. In 2020, people were drawn to “reality” because of Tiger King.
“As far as the audience perspective, I’m not sure that the impact is going to be quite as strong in terms of what we’re experiencing,” Fortmueller said. She notes that spring and summer are often not the strongest seasons for TV — and then there are the streaming platforms that have content in their pipelines, including material from international markets.
They can’t rely on that long term, because their business model is all about getting new subscribers to watch new shows. So ultimately, it can only last so long before it starts to hurt them.”
