WRITERS GUILD STRIKE DISRUPTS MOVIE AND TV PRODUCTION

By Jacob Pamus

Miriam Raftery contributed to this report

Photo:  Writers Guild strikers picket a Disney show in New York on May 10;  by FabebK, CC-by-SA 4.0

May 16, 2023 (San Diego) – The Writers Guild of America strike which began May 2 is the largest disruption in production of TV shows and motion pictures since the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns in 2020. 

Productions impacted include Netflix’s Stranger Things, Marvel Studios’ Blade and late night TV comedy shows. However some studios are continuing without writers, such as Amazon Prime’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which is wrapping up production overseas.

The key issue in the strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is revenues from streaming services, with writers contending that they are not being paid appropriately.

Customarily, writers receive residual checks on movies or shows that they worked on as long as a profit is still being made on that project. But now that many shows and movies are being put on streaming services such as Netflix and HBO Max, producers can use a loophole in  the WGA contract that lets them pay writers for single, fixed residual payments that do not correlate to how often or how many people watch the movie or show.

This is causing writers to struggle to pay bills amid the rising cost of living, while the studios profit substantially off of the writers’ work.

This is not the first time that the Guild’s writers have gone on strike.  The last strike was in 2007 and lasted for 100 days and cost the industry $2.1 billion.

Many prominent actors and other celebrities have voiced support for the strike, including Rob Lowe, Susan Sarandon, Jay Leno, Stephen Colbert, Snoop Dogg, Drew Barrymore, and Henry Winkler.