Hollywood writers are putting down their pens and grabbing picket signs. After weeks spent negotiating a new contract with Hollywood’s biggest studios, the Writers Guild of America said Monday that it has failed to reach a new deal. Now, for the first time in 15 years, nearly 12,000 scribes plan to walk out on Tuesday in a strike that threatens to grind Hollywood to a halt.
“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,” the WGA said in a statement shared with Vanity Fair. “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.”
The WGA called for its members to begin picketing on Tuesday afternoon.
The WGA spent six weeks in negotiation with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers—which bargains on behalf of 100-year-old studios like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, as well as streamers like Netflix and Amazon Studios. The guild said in the statement that the studios would not meet certain demands, including guaranteed weekly employment for TV writers or protections against an AI incursion. The studios, the guild said, “have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.”
WGA’s contract renegotiation was complicated by the tough economic climate for the studios, which have been cutting budgets and laying off thousands of employees as they face pressure from Wall Street to turn their streaming services into profitable businesses. AMPTP said in a statement that it “presented a comprehensive package proposal to the Guild last night which included generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals. The AMPTP also indicated to the WGA that it is prepared to improve that offer, but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the Guild continues to insist upon.” It added that its primary sticking points are “Guild proposals that would require a company to staff a show with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or not.”
The group continued, “The AMPTP member companies remain united in their desire to reach a deal that is mutually beneficial to writers and the health and longevity of the industry, and to avoid hardship to the thousands of employees who depend upon the industry for their livelihoods. The AMPTP is willing to engage in discussions with the WGA in an effort to break this logjam.”
Conversations with Hollywood sources in the weeks after negotiations began indicated that no one was jonesing for a strike. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos both spoke out in support of a deal with the writers, but hand-wringing about a potential work stoppage mounted as the contract expiration date loomed closer with little signal that the groups were nearing a deal. On April 17, the WGA announced that 98% of its members had voted to authorize a strike if a new contract was not in place by midnight on Monday.
This will be the writers’ first work stoppage since late 2007, when they went on strike for 100 days over a cut of studios’ digital sales, among other issues. The strike led to years of bitterness between the two groups. Though writers won key concessions, they also lost jobs and lucrative deals with the studios. Meanwhile, productions were delayed, and the LA economy took a hit.
The upcoming strike could be similarly devastating, depending on how long it lasts. (The longest strike on record was in 1988, when the work stoppage lasted for 153 days.) Sources indicate that there’s little incentive on either side to let the upcoming strike stretch for months. But regardless of its length, it will have an immediate impact on day-to-day business in Hollywood. Writers won’t be able to pitch new projects or work on existing ones. Late night shows will be the first to go dark, because they are often written mere hours before they are taped. Broadcast shows like Abbott Elementary—which was scheduled to start the writers room for its third season this week—could also be delayed in returning to the air this fall.
Natalie Jarvey
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