Strike!

Unless you don't live in the US or have not heard, the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) is on strike. What does that mean? What are they striking? How will that impact TV shows and movies? We'll get into that in this post.

I want to preface this by saying I am an aspiring writer, but I am not currently a member of the WGA. I got into writing late, and I currently work in a "regular" job (8 hours a day, 5 days a week) outside of writing. That said, I have a union that recently fought for our pay and employment so that we didn't have to strike. Some of this is based on my experience with a union, my field (STEM), and what I have heard from writers. Now that I've prefaced this let's talk about the strike.

First, what is the WGA striking? We have to answer this before we get into the question, "What does that mean?" The Nerdist did a fantastic job explaining what the writers are striking, so the video to that is down below:

In my view, what the writers are asking for is fair. First, residuals are not what they used to be. Cable TV doesn't have the same power that it used to have. It's all streaming-based services now. So, why are the studios not modifying their contracts with writers?

One of the graphics that I find ridiculous is that the top 8 executives of the streaming platforms make around $770M combined. Now, I work a good job, but I do not need more than what I earn right now to live better. I live comfortably. I can make my rent, pay my bills, buy food, pay gas, etc. I don't spend much on stuff I don't need. Do I have things I'd like to get? Sure. But am I low on things I need? Not even close. So I do not understand why anyone who claims to care about their workers makes over $50M for just themselves. If you are saving due to health issues or familial reasons, that is fine. However, and I may be naïve, I don't see you needing more than maybe $10 M if it is that bad. So why do eight people need over $90 M each on average when people are creating the shows that bring in the money but have negative bank accounts, not having power for their homes (if they have one), and overall struggling to live? It is insane to me.

Another issue? Mini-rooms. For those who do not know what mini-rooms are, they are essentially small writer's rooms (maybe five people) who are working on a whole series (8-10 episodes) in a short time (as short as 3-4 weeks). That is at least two episodes worked on per week at the fastest. For anyone who has not worked as a writer, that may seem like a short time. But writers are not just writing all day. They have meetings, and some even have other jobs. Yep, gone are the days of one screenplay generating bidding wars and millions of dollars. Those died in the '80s and '90s. About half of the WGA members today are making minimum wage for their writing, and that's basically nothing. Mini-rooms also don't pay you based on your experience; if you are a seasoned writer, you'll get paid as much as a new writer. It's ridiculous.

Finally, I'm going to touch on AI. I've never used ChatGPT in my life. I've had friends use it, and they rave about it. To me, it's basically plagiarism and apathy. You have no connection to your work because you did not work at all on it. Why are you proud of entering a prompt into a search engine and having information taken from other sources to give you a mediocre paper, at best? That's how it works: nothing original is created; it's all from other sources. ChatGPT recognizes patterns and follows them. No new content is created. Yet, executives of production companies just went to a meeting on AI and seemed to say, "We're fine with this." That, to me, seems like they are not concerned about actually entertaining audiences; they want money. If they were interested in audiences being entertained, they would be more interested in original ideas and taking risks, investing in stories with emotion and passion. That is what a machine lacks: emotion. A university created AI to work with elders and kids. Guess what? It didn't work due to the apathy. In my view, technology should be used to enhance or solve, not create and destroy.

Now, I've heard people say, "Replace the writers. Then we won't have crap TV shows." Writers develop ideas, but studios intervene and make notes and changes. Seth Rogen talked about working on The Green Hornet and how that wasn't good for him. Josh Trank (Fantastic Four) and David Ayer (Suicide Squad) said they had movies that diverged from what they wanted to make due to studio interference. We've heard the rumors about Jon Favreau and Lucasfilm execs clashing. In my view, if you hire a writer to create something for you, let them do their job. Otherwise, do it yourself if you know how you want it done.

Overall, the WGA is asking for a fair amount. Some of the proposals didn't even have counters; the producers just said no. So, I stand firmly with the writers and hope they get what they ask for. I hope this helped and that you will stand with the writers as well.