Thousands of members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are officially on strike. After the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to reach an agreement before their contract expired late Monday night, the WGA confirmed that it would officially go on strike beginning at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, May 2.
The WGA had been fighting to keep screenwriting as a viable profession in the streaming era, seeking an overhaul in compensation and residuals formulae and taking issue with the rise of short-order seasons for streamers, the creation of “mini rooms,” and other issues impacting writers on both coasts. However, after weeks of negotiations and just hours before the contract between the WGA and AMPTP expired at 11:59 p.m., talks stalled. In a statement issued at 7:59 p.m., the AMPTP confirmed, “negotiations between the AMPTP and the WGA concluded without an agreement today,” with the WGA later detailing how “WGA proposals would gain writers approximately $429 million per year; AMPTP’s offer is approximately $86 million per year, 48% of which is from the minimums increase.”
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Less than an hour after talks ended, the WGA said in a statement, “following the unanimous recommendation of the WGA Negotiating Committee, the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and the Council of the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), acting upon the authority granted to them by their memberships, have voted unanimously to call a strike, effective 12:01 AM, Tuesday, May 2.” The guild added that “the WGA Negotiating Committee began this process intent on making a fair deal, but the studios’ responses have been wholly insufficient given the existential crisis writers are facing,” adding that “the companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing… No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.”
“Though we negotiated intent on making a fair deal – and though your strike vote gave us the leverage to make some gains – the studios’ responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing,” the WGA said in a later message sent directly to members,” per Deadline. “We must now exert the maximum leverage possible to get a fair contract by withholding our labor,” the guild leadership added. “Members of the Negotiating Committee, Board and Council will be out with you on the picket lines.”
The strike, which follows the 100-day walkout of 2007-08, took effect early Tuesday morning. According to the guild, the first picketing locations will be at Netflix’s Hollywood offices, CBS TV City near the Grove and the other usual suspects of Disney, Universal, and more, and will go up at 1 p.m. PDT. Amid the strike, the WGA has scheduled an information session for members for May 3 at the Shrine Auditorium. Meanwhile, the strike is already having sweeping impacts on the TV landscape, with numerous late-night shows – The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, to name a few – halting production. It is expected that even more shows will be impacted as the strike continues.
