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'We're fighting for survival': Writers on the picket line talk pay, family and how the strike is
hitting home
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-05-14/wga-writers-strike-impact
Archive page https://archive.ph/Y9bl5
Less than two weeks ago, 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike. When they put down their pens and closed their laptops, some also put their careers and ability to support their families on hold. It was a risk they were willing to take in a struggle that has threatened to boil over for years.
On daily picket lines outside studios and production facilities in Los Angeles and New York, television and film writers have been hoisting placards and chanting in unison, hoping to force the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to heed their demands for what they regard as fair compensation and better working conditions in an industry that has been radically reshaped by streaming.
With the two sides still far apart over a range of thorny issues including streaming residuals, staffing levels and the use of AI, many fear the standoff could drag on for months, sending aftershocks across the industry and doing untold damage to the local economy.
But for writers, the effects of the strike are already being felt, measured in shrinking bank account balances, hours of sleep lost to anxiety and profound uncertainty about the future of the art form.
-snip-
On daily picket lines outside studios and production facilities in Los Angeles and New York, television and film writers have been hoisting placards and chanting in unison, hoping to force the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to heed their demands for what they regard as fair compensation and better working conditions in an industry that has been radically reshaped by streaming.
With the two sides still far apart over a range of thorny issues including streaming residuals, staffing levels and the use of AI, many fear the standoff could drag on for months, sending aftershocks across the industry and doing untold damage to the local economy.
But for writers, the effects of the strike are already being felt, measured in shrinking bank account balances, hours of sleep lost to anxiety and profound uncertainty about the future of the art form.
-snip-
Much more in the article, about five writers they interviewed.
And that article links to this one, from March, about how writers' pay has declined:
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-03-14/writers-guild-compensation-report-shows-writer-pay-depressed-over-last-decade
Archive page https://archive.ph/wip/6x9RE
The union found half of all TV series writers were paid the basic minimum rate under the union’s contract. That is up from 33% in 2013-14.
The percentage of showrunners working at the contract minimum is 24%, up 22 percentage points from a decade ago.
And the median weekly pay for writer-producers declined 23% over the period when adjusting for inflation, the union said.
“The companies have used the transition to streaming to cut writer pay and separate writing from production, worsening working conditions for series writers at all levels,” the WGA said in its report released Tuesday. “On TV staffs, more writers are working at minimum regardless of experience. And while series budgets have soared over the past decade, median writer-producer pay has fallen.”
The percentage of showrunners working at the contract minimum is 24%, up 22 percentage points from a decade ago.
And the median weekly pay for writer-producers declined 23% over the period when adjusting for inflation, the union said.
“The companies have used the transition to streaming to cut writer pay and separate writing from production, worsening working conditions for series writers at all levels,” the WGA said in its report released Tuesday. “On TV staffs, more writers are working at minimum regardless of experience. And while series budgets have soared over the past decade, median writer-producer pay has fallen.”
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