Hollywood writers are going on strike after failing to strike a deal with studios.
Both sides, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America, announced on Monday night that the pair failed to strike a deal before negotiations ended today, prompting a strike to begin at one minute after midnight on Tuesday.
In a statement released on Monday night, the AMPTP said they presented a “comprehensive package proposal to the Guilld last night which included generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals.”
“Though our Negotiating Committee began this process intent on making a fair deal, the studios’ responses have been wholly insufficient given the existential crisis writers are facing,” WGA tweeted on May 1.
The AMPTP said that the major points of disagreement surrounded “mandatory staffing” and “duration of employment.” In the month leading to the strike, the WGA said they are pushing for an increase in pay and residuals, especially relating to streaming productions.
“They have taken so much from the very people, the writers, who have made them wealthy,” the WGA said in an email to their members. “But what they cannot take from us is each other, our solidarity, our mutual commitment to save ourselves and this profession that we love. We had hoped to do this through reasonable conversation. Now we will do it through struggle. For the sake of our present and our future, we have been given no other choice.”
Lucy Nicholson / REUTERS
The WGA said the studios created a “gig economy” within in the industry. Additionally, the Guild said the companies’ “immoveable stance” during the negotiations devalued the “profession of writing.”
“Writers are making 23% less than we were 10 years ago, while the companies are making record profits — and that’s what we’re looking to address,” said WGA negotiating team committee member Adam Conover in an interview in April.
Conover continued and added that writers are put in unfair situations and compared the residuals made between movies that debuted in theaters and streaming platforms.
“If you write a movie for theatrical, where they put it in the movie theaters,” said Conover. “If you write the very same movie for streaming, you are paid far, far less in residuals — and residuals are how writers make our year in between our jobs. A movie is a movie either way.”
The last time writers went on strike was in 2007-2008. It lasted 100 days. While the strike will begin on Tuesday morning, picketing will not start until Tuesday afternoon.
If the like lasts it will create a perfect storm as the studios’ contracts with the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists expires in June.
During the strike authorization vote in April, nearly 98% of WGA members voted in favor of the strike.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Many KCAL News producers and writers are WGA members. However, they are on a separate contract. Paramount Global which owns CBS and KCAL News is part of the AMPTP.
