The First Hollywood Writers' Strike in 15 Years Is Here

Late-night shows expected to immediately go dark
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 2, 2023 12:26 AM CDT
Updated May 2, 2023 6:11 AM CDT
Hollywood Writers Go on Strike for First Time in 15 Years
FILE - Writers Guild of America (WGA) writers and others strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in a rally at Fox Plaza in Los Angeles' Century City district on Nov. 9, 2007.   (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

Television and movie writers declared late Monday that they will launch an industrywide strike for the first time in 15 years, as Hollywood girded for a walkout with potentially widespread ramifications in a fight over fair pay in the streaming era. The Writers Guild of America said that its 11,500 unionized screenwriters will head to the picket lines on Tuesday, the AP reports. Negotiations between studios and the writers, which began in March, failed to reach a new contract before the writers’ current deal expired just after midnight, at 12:01am PST Tuesday. All script writing is to immediately cease, the guild informed its members.

The board of directors for the WGA, which includes both a West and an East branch, voted unanimously to call for a strike, effective at the stroke of midnight. Writers, they said, are facing an “existential crisis.” “The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing,” the WGA said in a statement. “From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a ‘day rate’ in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers, they have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.”

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade association that bargains on behalf of studios and production companies, signaled late Monday that negotiations fell short of an agreement before the current contract expired. The AMPTP said it presented an offer with “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals.” In a statement, the AMPTP said that it was prepared to improve its offer “but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon." The most immediate effect of the strike viewers are likely to notice will be on late-night shows and Saturday Night Live. All are expected to immediately go dark.

(More Hollywood writers' strike stories.)

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