Opinion: Writers in Hollywood are struggling to make ends meet and are taking action to change this
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On May 2, the Writers Guild of America announced that its members were striking after six weeks of negotiations with large streaming and broadcasting companies fell through. Every three years, the WGA negotiates a new contract with Hollywood studios for writers on matters of pay, contracts and healthcare. Many people in the industry knew the sessions of this year’s negotiations were going to be the tensest in years. With the rise of streaming, the output of TV shows and movies has skyrocketed, but writers have seen little benefit.
In its initial statement about the decision to strike, WGA said, “[The studios] have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession.”
Immediately after the announcement, production of most movies and TV shows ground to a halt and writers took to the streets across the country with signs to begin picketing. Other than the halting of late night TV shows such as “The Tonight Show,” this won’t cause a dip in the release of TV for a long time, as most shows are pre-recorded. However, there’s no telling how long the strike will go on. The WGA has many pressing demands the studios need to answer for.
The WGA is mainly concerned with the growing issue of stagnated pay. In the past, writers could consistently work on a TV show with 20 or more episodes per season, but now the average number of episodes has gone down to 8 to 12. Another important matter is residual payments. In the network television era, writers were given residual payments whenever a show they contributed had re-runs or a DVD release. Now, streaming services, which often don’t reveal the number of times a show has been streamed at all, will only give writers a fixed payment when they license a show for their platform. This leaves writers high and dry; they can’t rely on continuous residuals coming in from their past projects anymore.
On top of proper compensation for their past projects, many writers have run into the trend of mini-rooms. Essentially, a small group of writers are gathered before a project is greenlit and generate ideas and first drafts of scripts. No matter their level of experience, it’s common for these writers to just be given minimum wage. The mini-rooms are also highly unpredictable. The WGA said that “Without the pressure and deadline of a production commitment, a room that is supposed to last just a few weeks can be extended for several months.” This sabotages any semblance of job security. Companies instead string writers along, asking for their hard work while often never signing them on for a full contract.
In an era of burgeoning AI technology, writers are also concerned about its effect in Hollywood. The WGA wants to carefully regulate its use, prohibiting AI from writing or rewriting literary material and for AI-generated work being used as source material at all.
The mistreatment of writers in Hollywood is endemic to the industry. Even when writers work on a project that goes on to receive great recognition, they are still often stuck working second jobs or looking frantically for what to work on next.
John Herrera, a writer on the “Handmaid’s Tale,” was working as an Uber driver as the show gained acclaim and many awards. When interviewed by Variety, he said that “There were a couple of instances of driving people to LAX and dropping them off while a billboard for Handmaid’s was staring down at me.”
Without the work of talented writers, the shows and movies nearly everyone consumes wouldn’t exist. In every part of the creative process a show or movie script goes through up until the last minute revisions on set, writers are there. Is the threat of a beloved show being shortened or canceled greater than the writers who created it getting paid a living wage? It’s important to consider the livelihood of these people; they are putting everything on hold to strike and aim for a better future.
