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Our Long National Apathy Might Be Over – There Is News of a Possible End to the Hollywood Writers Strike

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After nearly five months of a work stoppage and a rather intense series of days of negotiations this past week there is a glimmer of hope that an end could be seen to the ongoing strike by the Writers Guild of America. It has been a bit of a historic summer in Hollywood in that there has been the extremely rare occurrence of parallel strikes taking place, with the actors union also holding its own work stoppage. 

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The most notable aspect of all of this non-melodrama, as it were, has been the relative disinterest of the general public. While the Hollywood trade papers have been awash with daily coverage of the strike while promoting various projects the writers and performers might have been involved in, you heard little of a discussion from the customer base. One saw very little on social media from people with concerns over this walkout or lending much support for either side.

Last week serious talks between the WGA reps and those representing the studios took place for the first time in a month. Previously, the meetings managed to produce little more than animosity from either side. When the last discussion of holding serious talks took place, the two sides bickered over which of the other would be made to be the first to come forward with proposals. Often, the post-meeting pressers from the representatives were filled with complaints about how the other side behaved.

This week brought some notable changes, including the top executives from major studios getting directly involved. Bob Iger (Disney), David Zaslav (Discovery-Warner), Ted Sarandos (Netflix), and Donna Langley (NBC-Universal) were participants this week. The press conferences following Wednesday’s talks were more professional, and just the fact they were willing to come back to the table the next day was seen as a positive sign. 

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One reason this strike has lingered since May 2 is that there was far more than just pay increases to be addressed. Streaming has led to a number of issues the WGA focused upon, such as a need to be more transparent with viewing statistics and the payment of royalties of titles in the libraries of platforms. This reality has led to streaming services purging lightly watched titles at a faster clip to sidestep paying out for content that is not generating viewers.

The studios however were not so easily capitulating as they are facing some harsh realities of their own, with streaming being a contributor. The mass migration of viewers from traditional networks to streaming presents a serious self-created challenge; cord-cutting has led to the demise of broadcast ratings, yet streaming services have not proved to be profitable for most platforms as of yet. As advertising revenue has shrunk considerably there has not been commensurate revenue from subscriptions.

The last sticking points coming into this week have been regarding artificial intelligence, haggling over pay increases, and the staffing of writers’ rooms. AI has been seen as an inherent threat to jobs (both for the WGA and the actors union). The amount of jobs required on projects is a curious demand from the writers. The guild claims that this is needed because streaming services have truncated the number of episodes in seasons for their original television series. Traditionally a broadcast series would have a season comprised of around two dozen episodes, but streamers have been delivering less than half that number. The WGA is looking to create a minimum number of writers required as compensation for this loss of work.

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The timetable for an agreement to be reached was probably due to needs growing on both sides of the negotiating table. Writers going without income for months have been struggling with personal finances, and they have even lobbied to have a special bill to grant them unemployment benefits…for choosing not to work. One of the pressures the industry has been facing as a means of inspiring an agreement has been the delay in the Fall season for television. This is normally the period when new seasons are rolled out and new shows debut. Additionally, cinemas have been in a downturn, partly due to actors being prevented from promoting their films.

As positive as the news of a resolution might be for the WGA there is not going to be an immediate change in things in Hollywood. The guild leaders and lawyers are combing through the details of the proposal, and then the offer sheet needs to be submitted to both the WGA West and East Coast boards for the union members to vote. Upon approval even when getting back to work there will be time needed to generate new scripts.

And, of course, there is the small matter of needing to reach a resolution with the performers. Until then there will be little change to the Hollywood work stoppage that had little interest with the general public.

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The Hollywood Strikes Cause Talk-Show Conflicts As Confusion Reigns Over Resolution

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It almost feels like I need to remind people that Hollywood is all but shut down as a result of parallel strikes – by the Writers Guild of America (WGA), and the actors union SAG-AFTRA –  that have led to most work in entertainment coming to a standstill. Of course, in looking over the trade publications the strikes are center-stage news, yet beyond the industry, there is not much in the way of support or interest. Look over social media and you do not see much in the way of postings on the matter.

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This lack of public support is possibly leading to the lack of any encouraging negotiations. Absent that outrage from the customer base it almost seems the studios are content to wait things out a while longer. Meanwhile, internally there are other problems emerging. While the WGA and the body representing the studios, AMPTP, are struggling to even agree on terms to meet there are tensions rising inside the WGA itself.

Reports from The Wrap state that there have been very heated discussions between the WGA leadership and some of the prominent writers in the guild, who have been pushing for the WGA to negotiate in better faith to bring a resolution to the four-month work stoppage. For example, the two bodies have not met in earnest since mid-August, and a current issue that has them at loggerheads is over which side will first present the next set of contract proposals. 

During this stalemate, the calendar continues and there are daytime talk shows set to begin their new season. One that has turned heads is the announcement that “The Drew Barrymore Show” began production this week, prepping to start with new shows next week. This has raised the ire of writers who are questioning whether this means the show will be employing scab writers, and how is SAG member Barrymore permitted to be on the air. This calls up the complex framework of the guilds within the industry.

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To start, SAG-AFTRA has multiple contract levels with studios and production companies that affect the work of its members in differing ways. To understand, the guild covers more than just actors in film or TV, as it includes all of those who are performers. Talk shows, radio personalities, actors in commercials, voice-over artists, and those in many other media are included. 

Various sectors have different contracting standards, so while most performers have walked out, the non-dramatic television members, such as talk shows and broadcast news journalists who are union members are exempted and can work (I recently covered the conflict of interest this presented, as news personalities could vote for a strike while not directly impacted, as well as calling into question their bias in reporting on the strike they supported). As for Barrymore, this means while she cannot work or promote content regarding acting roles she can retain her position hosting her daytime show.

But there are other questions. The announcement of her starting production drew concerns from WGA members about the use of scab writers. Other shadows, like “The View”, have been on the air with non-union writers, yet there has not been the same level of outrage, for some reason (On Fox News, Greg Gutfeld has remained on the air largely because WGA writers refuse to work with him). Barrymore going back to work has been a concern, however.

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This is where the myopic focus of the WGA members is revealed. Ms. Day can declare it to be “gross” that Barrymore would fire her show back up, but this ignores some of the hard realities involving this strike. Drew might offend the handful or so writers who choose to walk out, but she sees fit that far more workers on her staff continue to have jobs and collect their income. The fact their shutdown of Hollywood is affecting far more people is something these striking members want to avoid addressing.

With work not taking place crews and all the support staff of productions are also directly impacted. It was measured that in August over 17,000 jobs have effectively been lost as a direct result of the strike. This is a number likely to rise, as the past couple of weeks has seen a flood of announcements from studios that they are suspending production deals with entities, meaning that sustained payments over the past few months will no longer be made.

And while this takes place the writers are making a rather daft lobbying effort. The WGA is trying to get the state of California to approve paying unemployment insurance to the writers who have spent months on their walkout. That is, they want to be paid for voluntarily not working. Unless that is a spec script for a comedy, this is some writing likely to be rejected by anyone with common sense, but this is an industry that operates with an abject lack of pragmatic thinking.

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Demanding to be compensated for walking out of work is the very kind of proposal that will only broaden the apathy seen in the general public. They can go without working, and we can go without their product.

The Hollywood Strikes Cause Talk-Show Conflicts As Confusion Reigns Over Resolution

by Leave a Comment

It almost feels like I need to remind people that Hollywood is all but shut down as a result of parallel strikes – by the Writers Guild of America (WGA), and the actors union SAG-AFTRA –  that have led to most work in entertainment coming to a standstill. Of course, in looking over the trade publications the strikes are center-stage news, yet beyond the industry, there is not much in the way of support or interest. Look over social media and you do not see much in the way of postings on the matter.

Advertisement

This lack of public support is possibly leading to the lack of any encouraging negotiations. Absent that outrage from the customer base it almost seems the studios are content to wait things out a while longer. Meanwhile, internally there are other problems emerging. While the WGA and the body representing the studios, AMPTP, are struggling to even agree on terms to meet there are tensions rising inside the WGA itself.

Reports from The Wrap state that there have been very heated discussions between the WGA leadership and some of the prominent writers in the guild, who have been pushing for the WGA to negotiate in better faith to bring a resolution to the four-month work stoppage. For example, the two bodies have not met in earnest since mid-August, and a current issue that has them at loggerheads is over which side will first present the next set of contract proposals. 

During this stalemate, the calendar continues and there are daytime talk shows set to begin their new season. One that has turned heads is the announcement that “The Drew Barrymore Show” began production this week, prepping to start with new shows next week. This has raised the ire of writers who are questioning whether this means the show will be employing scab writers, and how is SAG member Barrymore permitted to be on the air. This calls up the complex framework of the guilds within the industry.

Advertisement

To start, SAG-AFTRA has multiple contract levels with studios and production companies that affect the work of its members in differing ways. To understand, the guild covers more than just actors in film or TV, as it includes all of those who are performers. Talk shows, radio personalities, actors in commercials, voice-over artists, and those in many other media are included. 

Various sectors have different contracting standards, so while most performers have walked out, the non-dramatic television members, such as talk shows and broadcast news journalists who are union members are exempted and can work (I recently covered the conflict of interest this presented, as news personalities could vote for a strike while not directly impacted, as well as calling into question their bias in reporting on the strike they supported). As for Barrymore, this means while she cannot work or promote content regarding acting roles she can retain her position hosting her daytime show.

But there are other questions. The announcement of her starting production drew concerns from WGA members about the use of scab writers. Other shadows, like “The View”, have been on the air with non-union writers, yet there has not been the same level of outrage, for some reason (On Fox News, Greg Gutfeld has remained on the air largely because WGA writers refuse to work with him). Barrymore going back to work has been a concern, however.

Advertisement

This is where the myopic focus of the WGA members is revealed. Ms. Day can declare it to be “gross” that Barrymore would fire her show back up, but this ignores some of the hard realities involving this strike. Drew might offend the handful or so writers who choose to walk out, but she sees fit that far more workers on her staff continue to have jobs and collect their income. The fact their shutdown of Hollywood is affecting far more people is something these striking members want to avoid addressing.

With work not taking place crews and all the support staff of productions are also directly impacted. It was measured that in August over 17,000 jobs have effectively been lost as a direct result of the strike. This is a number likely to rise, as the past couple of weeks has seen a flood of announcements from studios that they are suspending production deals with entities, meaning that sustained payments over the past few months will no longer be made.

And while this takes place the writers are making a rather daft lobbying effort. The WGA is trying to get the state of California to approve paying unemployment insurance to the writers who have spent months on their walkout. That is, they want to be paid for voluntarily not working. Unless that is a spec script for a comedy, this is some writing likely to be rejected by anyone with common sense, but this is an industry that operates with an abject lack of pragmatic thinking.

Advertisement

Demanding to be compensated for walking out of work is the very kind of proposal that will only broaden the apathy seen in the general public. They can go without working, and we can go without their product.