Hollywood scriptwriters, on strike: "Studios have to be hit where it hurts the most: in the wallet"

Jorge Ramírez-Martínez chose the Amazon studios to protest on his first day of strike.

The 36-year-old screenwriter was sitting at the gates of the technology giant's headquarters in Culver City, south of the city of Los Angeles.

or

, by Alfred Hitchcock, were filmed there

, but on Wednesday afternoon, another Hollywood story was told in this place.

Half a hundred writers formed a picket to demand better working conditions from the eight major studios that dominate this city.

"Studios have to be hit where it hurts the most, in the wallet," said the writer of

and

, who brought his little dog King to accompany him to defend his rights.

The sign he was holding read: "Dog food is expensive!"

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Screenwriters announce first Hollywood strike in 15 years

Two days have passed since the first Hollywood strike in 15 years.

The scriptwriters met on Tuesday at noon at the doors of the studios.

They wore blue T-shirts with the emblem of the organization to which they belong, the Writers Guild of America (WGA).

The protest is not only taking place here, in the cradle of the industry, it is also taking place in New York, on the other side of the United States.

Members of the eastern section of the WGA have gone to demonstrate at the offices that the studios have in Manhattan.

Ramírez-Martínez describes the rapid transformation he has witnessed in the industry.

NBC, the television network for which he wrote, offered 20-week contracts to prepare a television season.

When she worked for Netflix, they offered her the same conditions but for two seasons.

“They want to do more in less time,” she says.

The scripts, in addition, are made with fewer hands.

A series of eight episodes on a digital platform is resolved with four writers, when the union considers that there should be seven.

The atmosphere of these two days is somewhat pessimistic, since neither party expects a quick resolution.

The writers' bargaining committee ruled late Monday that a strike was inevitable after the studios rejected eight of the 14 proposals the union put on the table.

The refusals touched on the most urgent points: raising the minimum number of writers per project and a 6% increase in the amount that screenwriters receive from the so-called residuals, that is, the amount that corresponds to them for each transmission of the projects they sign.

The studies proposed a rise of 2%.

“I think it's just amazing,” Christine, a member of the actors' union SAG-AFTRA, which has also joined the protest, said Wednesday.

“It's been a record profit year for them, but they don't want to share it.

The studios have complained about the increase in production costs, but since May 11 (the day the health emergency is lifted in the US) they will no longer have to continue with the covid protocols, which had inflated budgets ”, he adds she.

"It is an insult that they have rejected these proposals," adds Ramírez-Martínez.

"We are responsible for creating series with which they win millions of dollars, prestige, Emmy and Oscar awards, and they simply do not want to compensate us in a better way," she complains.

The picket at the Disney offices in the city of Burbank.CAROLINE BREHMAN (EFE)

“Chill, Netflix”

Hollywood has been left without a creative engine.

“Greed is NOT good,” stated one of the banners, a nod to the famous phrase Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) said on

.

“Alexa will not replace us,” read another sign in front of Jeff Bezos' audiovisual empire (the studios rejected the proposal that artificial intelligence cannot be used to write).

Other: “Writer's Block!”

(Creative block).

“Did you want drama?

Here's some drama!" read the message wielded by Joelle of the Universal Writers Program.

In 2007, the date of the last strike in Hollywood, the screenwriter worked as a producer of

, a genre that

when the strike stopped productions that depended on scripts.

She is now on the other side.

She feels the pressure of a job that has seen her average salary drop in the last decade despite the multiplication of series and projects.

“The media conglomerates are extending work hours with the lowest possible pay.

It's just not sustainable.

It does not suit either party, ”she opines.

The salary of David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, was one of the recurring themes in the messages in the hands of the writers.

The executive earned $250 million last year, which could cover the salaries of some 10,000 writers, the number of members the WGA has.

“It's ridiculous for them to pretend to be poor,” Adam Conover, the actor and trade unionist, said in an interview.

The previous strike lasted from November 2007 for more than 100 days and had an impact on the local economy of more than 2,000 million dollars.

This year, the protest threatens to become a domino that could end up paralyzing the industry altogether.

May 10 is the deadline for the directors' union to renew its collective contract.

The unions hoped to obtain from the scriptwriters the road map to act against the studios grouped in the Alliance of Film and Television Producers (AMPTP, for its acronym in English).

“2023 has been the first year that I have felt an economic blow,” says Mike Langer, another of the writers who have joined the protest.

“Although there has been a lot of work in the last three years, the economy is certainly affecting the industry.

But television and cinema will not go anywhere.

So even if there is a bad economy, the pay must be fair”, has assured this graduate of the American Film Institute.