Los Angeles (USA), May 9 (EFE) Television – scheduled for this Wednesday – put pressure on the big studios and help them meet their contractual demands.
“I think that if the members of the Directors Union join the strikes, the studios will have no other option than to negotiate with us again until they reach a fairer agreement,” the writer Talia Rothenberg (“Rebelde ”) from the picket called at the Netflix headquarters in Los Angeles.
From the WGA, on strike for just a week, they demand an increase in the minimum payments; an increase in the incentives that streaming platforms pay them for re-broadcasting their productions; and greater regulation of creations resulting from artificial intelligence.
Added to this situation is now that of the Directors Union (DGA), who will initiate talks on their own contract with the AMPTP and will fight “at any cost” for a fair agreement, according to their director, Lesli Linka Glatter, in statements to the specialized media Variety this Wednesday.
Their requests coincide with the fierce battle of the screenwriters: salary increases in line with inflation, strength and sustainability in pension and health plans, as well as significant increases in those incentives known in the industry as “residuals.”
“It’s hard to say I want the principals to go on strike because I hope they get a fair contract, but I have a feeling if they don’t, they’re going to come out and fight with us too and this city is going to realize what’s wrong with it. powerful that is our work”, commented to EFE the scriptwriter Brittany Miller.
For her part, the writer Haley Harris (“Sweet Tooth” and “Briarpatch”, among other titles) agreed with Miller’s vision and assured that the “only” thing that the writers on strike are asking for is “to be treated as people and not as replaceable machines.
“We are showing how important we are to the entertainment industry and we are going to stay here until the companies realize it,” added Harris.
The pickets carried out by the writers in Los Angeles and New York have remained strong and spirited during the first week and have even attracted professionals from other sectors who consider their cause laudable.
“I think studios need to compensate writers better than they have. I am here to support you; Instead of going on a tour to Paramount, I chose to join the strike,” Mark Misretta, an amateur writer who traveled from Florida (Miami, USA) told EFE just to show his solidarity with the creators.
The last writers’ strike that the industry went through took place in 2007 and lasted for almost one hundred days, which meant a loss of 2.1 billion dollars and the dismissal of 37,000 professionals.
Until now, late-night talk shows like “The Late Show” or “Saturday Night Live” have stopped issuing new episodes and well-known series like “Severance”, “Stranger Things” or “Abbott Elementary” have put their development on hold. because of the strike.
The next to negotiate their collective agreement with the studios will be the members of the Screen Actors Guild of the USA (SAG-AFTRA), another capital branch in the Hollywood business that from June 7 will try to improve their working conditions .
