By Clove Morgan
If you are in tune with the film industry, you’re aware of the recent frenzy surrounding the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) strike and its consequential spread among actors. One simple Google search will tell you that screenwriters are refusing to work as a result of unfair treatment for their labor. Rightfully so, right? Everyone should be compensated for their hard work. It’s a little more complicated than that, though, as most mass industry relationships are. I’m here to put the recent happenings in the simplest of terms and timeline for what this could mean for the future of Hollywood.
It all started in May of this year (2023) when tension came to a head after years of monumental shifts taking place in entertainment. Most notably: the transition from broadcast to streaming. With younger generations favoring streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and AmazonPrime, cable television popularity has been dwindling at an accelerated pace. The difference between the two for writers is as follows: broadcast = more work and more staff, streaming = less work and less staff. This is because of a limited amount of episodes and a smaller writer’s room for most streaming shows, thus a resulting decrease in pay.
As a means of combating this downward spiral, the WGA proposed an agreement to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) for fair wages, work guarantees, and more staff per project to reduce the use of AI. They were denied. The reaction was over 10,000 screenwriters declaring a strike.
Now for the big question, what does this mean for Hollywood? Audiences should expect a decline in the quality of the shows and movies they are consuming. Projects in the post-production stages have no writers to review the editing process, and those currently mid-shoot have no writers to create their scripts. let alone be present on set. A shutdown is inevitable, halting the turnout of TV and film for the foreseeable future. To put it into perspective, according to Deadline and ET, streaming favorites including Stranger Things, Cobra Kai, Euphoria, The Last of Us, Abbott Elementary, and many more have ceased writing for the time being.
What is most surprising is that the same strike took place no more than fifteen years ago in 2007. In advocacy for the same causes, writers went on strike on behalf of needing better overall treatment, financial compensation, and employment guarantees. A lot of teenagers and young adults today may not fully recall the 2007 strike, but those who do remember a drastic downturn in the quality of TV and film scripts and production. Shows from that era of television that were affected include Grey’s Anatomy, The Simpsons, Breaking Bad, etc. This encouraged an increased consumption of unscripted reality TV.
The 2023 strike introduces new problems to confront with streaming and AI possessing a new technology to compete with. With programs like ChatGPT that can write scripts with nothing more than a short description of the desired outcome, a lot of writers run the risk of losing their jobs. AI can complete tasks and flush out content at the drop of a hat. It may not be as clean, cohesive, or compelling in comparison to a screenwriter’s product–but some studios are willing to take lower-quality content in favor of not having to pay a staff of writers.
Since May, a colossal update has occurred. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG), a union that serves as an umbrella for a variety of programs/media and their employees, attempted to reach an agreement with AMPTP for fair pay to support the livelihoods of working actors that ultimately failed. Around 65,000 actors have since declared a strike and are refusing to be present on set. The strike will include film and TV, with the news industry being the exemption. It is speculated and assumed that this may be a point of solidarity with the WGA, as both parties are demanding fair compensation for their work. This is the first dual strike in over fifty years.
Social media news source Impact put together a collective of sources that find Studios unwavering in their stance against the SAG and WGA. They believe that the strike will run its course until writers and actors begin to need paychecks for their survival. The predicted negotiation will not take place until the fall of this year.
Not only is this intimidating for those within the industry, but those just entering it as well. The dual strike and studios’ refusal to compromise threatens the livelihood of industry creatives. A rise in Artificial Intelligence, with a terrifying prediction in Black Mirror’s recent season, could possibly be a foreshadowing of today’s moral collision between technology and humanity. At what point does advancement get in the way of humane treatment? Nevertheless, the figurative spotlight is on the studios behind the scenes and their next move as writers and actors stand with each other and their united demands.
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