By Daniel Arkin -
NBC News
Some 11,500 film and television scriptwriters began the first strike in 15 years on Tuesday after failing to reach an agreement on salary improvements, putting hundreds of productions on hold and causing a harsh impact on an industry that has been trying to manage the changes imposed by the platforms for some time. streaming.
Late on Monday, the board of directors of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which includes the West and East branches, voted unanimously to call a walkout, acknowledging that writers are facing an "existential crisis."
Strike writers demonstrate in front of Paramount studios in Los Angeles, on December 13, 2007. Nick Ut / AP file
"The behavior of the companies has created a gig economy within a union workforce, and their unwavering stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devalue the profession of writing," the union denounced in a statement.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) - a trade association that negotiates on behalf of studios, TV networks and streaming platforms - said its financial offer includes "generous increases".
Major "sticking points," according to the entertainment giants, include union proposals that would force companies to staff TV shows with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, "whether they are needed or not." .
The strike virtually halts the production of TV shows, streaming shows and potentially some movies, turning the entertainment industry upside down.
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In some cases, the impact will be immediately apparent.
For example, late-night talk shows are expected to go off the air, and NBC's
Saturday Night Live
may have to cancel next weekend's broadcast.
In other cases, producers of fiction and comedy series will be forced to shorten their seasons or delay filming.
The strike comes amid intense economic and technological turmoil in Hollywood, which is grappling with the growing dominance of streaming platforms, declining viewership for traditional television and even the rise of artificial intelligence, which has fueled anxiety about the future of the creative professions.
What is at stake
WGA members are demanding wage increases and structural changes to a business model they say has made it increasingly difficult to earn a living.
In recent years, amid the explosion of streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+, the median salary for writers and producers has fallen 4%, or 23% adjusting for inflation, according to union statistics.
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"Companies have taken advantage of the transition to streaming to cut writers' pay and separate writing from production, worsening working conditions for series writers at all levels," the WGA noted in a March 14 newsletter titled
The writers are not up to it
.
The union added that more and more screenwriters are "working at the minimum regardless of their experience."
By contrast, the salaries of top show business executives have skyrocketed in recent years.
In a video message posted April 11, comedy writer-producer Danielle Sanchez-Witzel (
The Carmichael Show
), a member of the WGA's negotiating committee, said "this is not your ordinary bargaining cycle."
"We are fighting for the economic survival of screenwriters and the stability of our profession," she said.
Union writers are especially frustrated that streaming shows run for fewer episodes than their TV counterparts, making it difficult to maintain consistent revenue.
Additionally, residual fees – the money paid when a show airs in syndication or abroad – have all but disappeared as content hosted exclusively on streaming platforms increases.
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In an interview with
NBC Nightly News
, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the creator of Netflix's animated series
BoJack Horseman
, bluntly explained what the writers' demands are.
"We want more money. We want enough money to make a basic living doing what we like," he said.
"I think we're getting to a point where the only people who will be able to afford to try to start a career in TV or movies will be the ones who are already independently wealthy, which I don't think is good for TV or movies. No I think we want that," he said.
The alliance represents major movie studios including Disney, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros.;
to major television networks such as ABC, CBS and NBC;
and major streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon.
(Universal Pictures is a unit of NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)
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“AMPTP member companies remain united in their desire to reach an agreement that is mutually beneficial to writers and the health and longevity of the industry, and to avoid hardship for the thousands of employees who depend on the industry for their livelihood. the organization said in a statement Monday night.
"AMPTP is willing to enter into talks with the WGA in an effort to get out of this quagmire."
WGA members last went on strike in November 2007, amid negotiations with the AMPTP over writers' salaries and other issues.
The walkout stalled Hollywood production for 100 days, until February 12, 2008.
Today, the union is facing problems that might have been unimaginable during the last strike, when Netflix was best known for shipping DVDs in red envelopes and traditional TV networks still generated outsized viewership.
In a sign of the times, the WGA's demands for this trading cycle include regulations for the "use of material produced using artificial intelligence or similar technologies."