In 2007, screenwriters went on strike and now it’s time again. Better employment conditions and higher wages are required, and now the majority of screenwriters are sharing stories about why they went on strike, something that has hit the entertainment industry hard where, for example, the majority of talk shows will not be broadcast and where as long as the strike lasts it will not be written , some scripts are pitched or sold. In an industry that is already heavily criticized for running out of ideas, this is of course really serious.
Alex O’Keefe who worked on the acclaimed The Bear says: “I have friends who think, ‘Alex worked at The Bear, Alex is rich now. Alex can afford a car.” But that’s not true. I’m broke. When I won a WGA Award for The Bear for Best Comedy Series, my bank account was in the red. My family and friends bought me a suit and the bow tie was bought on credit. All that glitters is not gold.”
Ashley Lyle who is one of the creators and writers of Yellowjackets shared the following on Twitter.
Dave Metzger is one of the writers on The Blacklist and CSI: Vegas and shared his thoughts on Twitter. The actor and screenwriter Ashley Nicole Black talks about how the industry has changed where in the past TV series were sold on to other channels and then the screenwriters got a check but that is not the case today: “When you write for a channel today, they don’t resell the series to another channel. They sell it to their own streaming service. If you write for a streaming service, it won’t be resold. Even if it becomes a big hit with viewers, they get to decide value, and you get a check for $1.25.”
Experienced screenwriter Javier Grillo-Marxuach explains why there is now a strike: “Why is the WGA on strike? Because producers refuse to give screenwriters a livable base salary, job security, compensation and career opportunities. Writing for television used to be tough, but also a path to a very desirable destination. In the end, you could get create your own TV series. I came into the industry and endured all the anxiety and uncertainty of being able to create high level art. Now they’ve made it impossible for writers to gain experience, climb the ranks, and become producers on their own series . And they pay us less than 3% of their profits.”
Other horror stories about how assistants to the screenwriters are fired at Christmas break, only to be rehired, are also shared on Twitter. When the strike last took place, it lasted for 100 days and cost roughly over 2 billion dollars. It remains to be seen if this can be resolved more quickly. For those interested in reading more about the Writers Guild of America strike rules, there is something to do here and for those who want to know which programmes/series are affected by the strike, there is to read here.
