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Writers Guild of America strike halts Hollywood productions By City News Service
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icketing resumed Wednesday outside all the major L.A.area studios as a strike by the Writers Guild of America that halted hundreds of productions entered its second day. Following Monday night's announcement by the WGA's West Coast and East Coast branches that contract talks with the studios had broken down, the union walked off the job when its contract expired at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, the union's first strike in 15 years. Pickets went up beginning Tuesday afternoon -- but on Wednesday, the strikers had an earlier call time of 9 a.m., according to the schedule posted on the WGA's website. They were expected to be out in force again on Wednesday morning at Amazon's Studio in Culver City, CBS' Studio City lot, Television City, The Walt Disney Co.'s corporate headquarters in Burbank, the Fox Studio Lot, Netflix's Hollywood headquarters, Paramount Studios in Hollywood, Sony Studios in Culver City, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. in Burbank. The union remains at an impasse with Hollywood studios over a host of labor issues, most notably residuals for streaming content, staffing levels in writing rooms and the use of artificial intelligence. "You know, this is not what we wanted to do today but it is where we are," writer Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, known for her work on shows including "My Name is Earl" and "New Girl," told fellow union members outside the
Writers on strike march in Century City in 2007. | Photo courtesy of Jengod/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Netflix studio. "And together we will stay united and we will win this fight. So let's fight together." The strike will disrupt work on hundreds of movies, scripted television series, late-night talk shows and streaming productions. The late-night talk shows felt the most immediate impact, with shows such as "Jimmy Kimmel Live," which is shot in Hollywood, going dark, along with programs including "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,""Late Night with Seth Meyers" and "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." NBC's "Saturday Night Live" also quickly fell victim to the strike, canceling this week's
planned live episode hosted by Pete Davidson. The walkout will also have a wide-ranging economic ripple effect on thousands of crew members and behindthe-scenes workers such as hair-and-makeup artists, transportation employees and food servers -- as well as impact businesses near studios such as restaurants that typically serve workers who, for the foreseeable future, will not be reporting to work. Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said whether directly or indirectly, "every single one of us will be
impacted by this (strike)." "We're very concerned about what's going on, because both sides are dug in, and the stakes are high," Newsom said. "I've got to say, I'm sensitive to the concerns of the writers, very, in terms of what streaming's doing, what the next conversation, AI (artificial intelligence), is doing in this space. This is a very real and existential moment." He said his office has not been involved in the labor talks, but will get involved if asked to do so. Among the issues on the bargaining table, the WGA is pushing for increases in pay and residuals, particularly
over streaming content. The guild is specifically calling for higher residual pay for streaming programs that have higher viewership, rather than the existing model that pays a standard rate regardless of a show's success. The union is also calling for industry standards on the number of writers assigned to each show, increases in foreign streaming residuals and regulations preventing the use of artificial intelligence technology to write or rewrite any literary material. According to the union, its latest contract proposal would net writers roughly
$429 million per year, while the studios' latest offer would equate to about $86 million annually. Studios have pushed back on some union demands, noting that the entire industry is facing budget constraints and pointing to the thousands of layoffs currently underway at the Walt Disney Co. as a prime example. The studios also say writers' residuals have increased in recent years, powered largely by amounts earned through "new media." The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios,issued a statement at 7:54 p.m. Monday reporting that negotiations concluded Monday without an agreement. "The AMPTP presented a comprehensive package proposal to the guild last night which included generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals," the statement said. "The AMPTP also indicated to the WGA that it is prepared to improve that 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 primary sticking points are mandatory staffing and duration of employment, guild proposals that would require a company to staff a show with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or not.
See WGA Page 28