(by Lucia Magi)
Hollywood freezes for the first time in 15 years.
The American screenwriters union has called a strike against the production and distribution studios of films, series and television programmes.
This was announced by an official note from the Writers Guild of America (WGA), put online at 21.00 in Los Angeles (6.00 in Rome), i.e. three hours after the expiry of the three-year contract of the category on whose renewal the parts are not they reached an agreement, after almost two months of negotiation.
According to local media, the blockade of the 10,000 unionized screenwriters will affect more than 800,000 show workers, blocking sets, productions and programs such as Jimmy Kimmel Live or The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Hollywood freezes for first time in 15 years, screenwriters strike for higher pay
The last strike in Hollywood was 15 years ago: even then it was film and TV writers who paralyzed the richest and most prolific film industry in the world for 100 days, between the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008. One strike that cost the Studios an estimated $2 billion.
The WGA negotiating committee has spent the past six weeks negotiating with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony under the aegis of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
During the negotiation, we explained how the business practices of these companies have drastically reduced our fees and our royalties and, therefore,
undermined our working conditions.
We have made it clear that we are determined to strike a new contract with fair pay that reflects the value of our contribution to the industry's success and includes protections to ensure that writing continues to be a sustainable profession."
98% of the nearly 10,000 union members voted two weeks ago to allow their representatives to come to the strip, in case the Studios continued to block.
The points of contention remain wages, royalties and the writing work that precedes the actual production, often unpaid.
From a survey of WGA enrollees,
it turns out that half of them receive the minimum wage (while ten years ago they earned only 33%) and that the average weekly salary has fallen by 23%, considering inflation.
A thorny issue is the use of mini-rooms.
Studios are no longer hiring writers to write a pilot-approved show.
By now, they convene small groups of creatives to quickly write 8-10 episodes, even before deciding whether to go into production.
And if the series is not done, they don't always pay off.
''When we were writing Everything Sucks - screenwriter Michael Mohan vents on Twitter - Ben and I stole food from the Netflix cafeteria because we worked for free for many months''.
''
Shows with million-dollar budgets shouldn't have writers in mini-rooms who can't afford medical insurance,'' tweeted Josephine Green Zhang with the hashtag #WGAstrong.
Another knot to solve is that of copyrights for works intended for streaming.
If years ago it was easy to calculate them on tickets sold and television airtimes, the situation is now much more complicated.
When Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos celebrated the success of Bridgerton - watched by 82 million accounts in 2020 - screenwriter Leila Cohan tweeted: ''This is great news!
You know what would be nice too?
Receive royalties commensurate with this great success!'.
Closing screenwriters' notebooks and computers means jamming the whole 'Hollywood system'
upstream.
The production of series and films and the editing of TV programs are blocked.
''I wouldn't have a program if it weren't for my authors.
I'm with them all the way,'' Jimmy Kimmel exemplified on the Met Gala carpet.
Many well-known faces from the small and big screen express solidarity with the writers.
The unions of actors and directors have also done so: their contracts expire in a month.
Hard times for studios.
their contract expires in a month.
Hard times for studios.
their contract expires in a month.
Hard times for studios.
