Hollywood's film and TV writers could go on strike this week. Here's what you need to know


CBC
Sat, April 29, 2023 

The Writers Guild of America West offices are shown in Los Angeles on April 25. Hollywood film and TV writers voted overwhelmingly earlier this month to authorize a strike if their union fails to reach a deal by May 1. The WGA is in talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (Mike Blake/Reuters - image credit)

Hollywood film and television writers could strike on Tuesday if their demands aren't met during contract negotiations with the industry's largest production companies.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA), a labour union representing film and TV writers, is renegotiating a three-year contract for 11,500 members that is set to expire this week. It's in talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), an association that represents America's studios, streaming services and production houses.

The WGA received overwhelming support from its members earlier this month to authorize a strike, if a deal isn't reached by a looming May 1 deadline.

Here's what you need to know about a potential writers' strike.

What are the issues?

Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images

Film and television writers are seeking pay increases from large studios and production companies such as Netflix and Disney. The WGA says that working conditions have declined during the streaming era and that writer compensation has suffered due to shortened seasons, smaller residuals and the rise of writers' "mini-rooms."

Mini-rooms are pre-production groups, usually made up of a showrunner-creator and a few writers, who work ahead on several scripts of a potential show's first season to offer to streaming executives. Rather than the traditional pipeline of ordering a TV series from a pilot episode, some companies are now opting for script-to-series orders.

The practice of mini-rooms is meant to give executives a sense of the series' direction as well as its budget. But critics say they offer less pay. Many TV and film writers are based in New York and Los Angeles, industry centres with a high cost of living.

The WGA is also pushing studios to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in scriptwriting. While it says it's open to the use of the technology (so long as writers maintain sole credit of the work), the guild has also said that AI can't be used to undermine screenwriters and their work by impacting their compensation.

What would a strike entail?

A walkout could begin as early as Tuesday morning. If it does, union members have to abide by a strict set of rules that the WGA has released in advance.

As soon as a strike begins, writers can't meet, negotiate with or work for a struck company. That includes selling or optioning material, according to the WGA's negotiations website.

Writers must also send a formal statement to their agents and professional representatives forbidding them from doing any business on their behalf.

Any union members who violate the strike rules and cross picket line can be disciplined by the guild for jeopardizing the strike process.

What do the studios say?

Dado Ruvic/Reuters

The AMPTP, which represents Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Comcast and other corporations in the contract negotiations, says its goal is to reach "a fair and reasonable agreement" with the guild.

Sources close to the studios have said that budgets are tight and companies are focused on profiting from expensive streaming investments that haven't been as fruitful as expected, according to Reuters.

How will a strike affect my favourite TV shows?

That the strike will most likely start at the beginning of May, when many TV series are at the tail-end of their seasons, means that viewers probably won't notice changes to their favourite scripted programs.

Comedies and dramas, many of which are filmed months in advance of their air dates, would be impacted only if there are outstanding episodes that have yet to be written once the strike begins.

But a strike would be immediately felt on U.S. late-night talk and variety shows such as Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show, which depend on topical subjects and are written on a much tighter timeline than other scripted programs.

Daytime soap operas would also be impacted relatively quickly.

Given that movies are written years in advance, near-future releases won't be affected by the strike, though it could stall films currently in the writing stage of development.

Will this be like the 2007-08 strike?

Damian Dovarganes/The Associated Press

The last writers' guild strike began in November 2007 and ended in February 2008 after 100 days. Because the action began mid-season and lasted for a long time, its impacts were very much noticeable to viewers. TV networks replaced their usual programming with reruns and reality shows.

Scripts were rushed in order to be finished by the strike deadline. Series including Breaking Bad and 30 Rock were forced to finish their seasons early, and many others were cancelled. Meanwhile, nearly 40,000 jobs were cut and California's economy lost $2 billion US.

Nowadays, production companies like Netflix have a backlog of content that they would release in case of a strike. Streamers have also upped their roster of international series during the last few years — shows that would be unaffected by an American writers strike.

During the 2007-08 strike, a flood of Canadian series like Orphan Black, Flashpoint and The Listener were picked up by U.S. networks, including BBC America, NBC and CBS.

A potential writers' strike was averted in 2017 when both parties reached an agreement by their deadline.