By: William Conlin '25
Over 100 days have passed since the start of the WGA strike. Each side has insisted that the other is responsible for responding. The writers' strike and the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, which affects industry actors, have resulted in almost 17,000 jobs being lost in the entertainment sector, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. As the job stoppages continue, industry workers are receiving eviction warnings and, in some cases, are living in their cars and with their families.
For a new contract to replace a three-year agreement that ended on May 1, the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers went on strike on May 2nd at around 12:01 a.m. PDT against the studios for issues such as wages, streaming residuals, and other problems.
Executives at the studio are confident that they have made significant attempts to break the impasse in recent weeks. The studios, who were represented by the AMPTP, presented the writers with terms in the hopes that they would serve as the basis for discussions that would ultimately result in a settlement. However, they were gravely misled. The WGA, which represents the authors, derided the offer.
The AMPTP then made an attempt to directly appeal to WGA members by making the details of their offer public. Maybe, they had hoped, the WGA membership base would change their minds when they saw the offer for themselves, tipping the scales in their favor. This decision demonstrated how confident the studios were in the proposal they had made. This was not received well by the WGA.
“Despite the AMPTP’s attempt at a detour around us, we remain committed to direct negotiations with the companies. That’s actually how a deal gets made and the strike ends. That will be good for the rest of the industry and the companies as well,” WGA president Meredith Steihm said in a note to members.
Almost every show that is not reality television has stopped production except for “The Drew Barrymore Show” which is returning on September 18th. Protestors gathered outside of CBS studios in New York calling the decision a “moral violation”. Barrymore is not violating any union rules but the protests continue to happen outside the studio.
“It seems cruel for Drew Barrymore to just abandon her writing staff after all that time creating wonderful content every day. Treating the writers like they are worthless and not valued. Which is exactly the opposite of what the protestors are fighting for,” NHS junior Evan Cowley said.
The most notable shows affected by the writer strikes are animation shows such as “Family Guy” and “American Dad”. As well as HBO shows such as “Euphoria” and “Hacks”. Among many others. Also comedies such as “Abbot Elementary” and “Cobra Kai”. All these shows and many more will be delayed until the writers’ strike is over.
"I hope that this writers’ strike ends as soon as possible because I love “Stranger Things” and that was shut down because of the writers’ strike. But I feel like the writers should get a fair amount of compensation to come up with these great storylines,” NHS junior Giovanni Rivera said.
Comments