Starting May 2nd, the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA), a labor union representing writers in film and media, went on strike to establish better wages, residuals, and job security for screenwriters. Writers are a pillar in the industry, but their pay has been depleting while streaming companies’ profits only seem to grow. The lack of accountability from major corporations, as well as the relatively new streaming format, creates a difficult financial situation for writers. Streaming companies need to focus on improving their writer’s salaries, elevating screenwriting from an economically burdening job to a sustainable and fulfilling career.
Preceding the strike, a series of attempted negotiations took place between the WGA and the streaming companies’ joint representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Pay was a critical factor, as wages have suffered a decade decrease of 4%, which would amount to 23% considering inflation, making writing continuously less sustainable.
Due to the lengthy, a multitude of shows have delayed production, including the Netflix original “Stranger Things” and a prequel to “Game of Thrones”. Talk shows have also been pushed onto reruns due to their heavy reliance on writers, yielding harmful results to the economy. The WGA claims the strike is costing the California economy around 30 million dollars per day, totaling nearly 4 billion dollars over the four month span.
This suspension of production also affects other branches of the industry such as hairdressers and make-up artists who are consequently put out of work. The neglection of writers’ needs throws the entirety of Hollywood off its rhythm, creating hiccups in production and in workers’ everyday lives. By refusing to make appropriate adjustments, corporations create a more expansive problem rather than minimizing the one at hand.
A contributing factor to the low-pay of writers is the new take on residuals, payments for the reuse of a person’s work and an essential part of supporting writers between new projects. While residuals were once based on a show’s reruns, most companies have adopted a new model that relies on the amount of subscribers a platform has – significantly decreasing the writer’s compensation. Residuals were typically about $20,000 depending on the show, but streaming platforms have given around $400 for a few years, if not less.
While it may seem like the increase of filming projects has increased job availability, these projects have also become shorter and less consistent. There are typically far less episodes in a season today than there were 20 years ago, which makes for condensed writing time and fewer weeks with confirmed pay.
Although the end of the strike might not be clear, there’s no hiding from the alterations needed to build a better industry. Major streaming companies owe it to writers to put aside profit and create more sustainable methods of income and valuable production opportunities.
