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Volume 61 Issue 3
Thursday, September 28, 2023
THE USD VISTA VISTA
The Official Student Newspaper of the University of San Diego since 1968
For writers, the end is in sight
Writers union reaches tentative deal with Hollywood studios which is a labor union that aims to protect the creative and economic rights of writers went on strike for the first time since 2007 is to demand an increase in pay for writers. They also want greater protections in the wake of AI and rightful compensation for streaming residuals, which are long-term payments for reruns and other airings after initial release to those who worked on media like film and TV. On May 2, the existing contract between the WGA and AMPTP — which includes Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros., Discovery, NBC Universal, Paramount, Sony, Amazon and Apple — came to an end at 12 a.m. without a new, ratified contract. The WGA was in the process of negotiating with AMPTP but after the latter did not meet the WGA’s demands, AMPTP released a statement saying that negotiations with WGA had concluded without an agreement. The statement also said that a “comprehensive package” was proposed to the Guild but “sticking points” like “mandatory staffing” and “duration of employment” that WGA requested were a point of contention leading to a failure of agreement. This
SATVIKA NITYA ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR This past Sunday, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios to end the second-longest strike by the WGA in history, lasting for a total of 146 days. This deal not only ensures higher compensations and protections for writers but also raises hopes for the entertainment industry to come out from its current media and filming shutdown. The WGA released a statement along with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) announcing the threeyear contract deal. The strike will officially end and writers will go back to work once the agreement is approved and signed by the guild’s board member from both the east and west branches as well as the guild’s 11,500 members but picketing was suspended immediately. Though the terms of the deal are still not released, a surge of positivity has been seen both through a boost in entertainment companies’ shares as well as a breath of relief for all students who want to break into the industry. The reason why the WGA,
The writers guild reached a tentative agreement after 146 days on strike.
Photo courtesy of @hollywoodhandle/X
ASG struggles with low participation Toreros don’t know what Associated Student Government does
See News, page 2
Suicide awareness See Opinion, page 4
Hispanic Heritage See Feature, page 6
Associated Student Government holds weekly Senate meetings which are open to USD students to attend. Photo Courtesy of https://www.sandiego.edu/associated-student-government/
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MORE STORIES SPD backlash
ANJALI DALAL-WHELAN NEWS EDITOR At the end of spring semester 2023, USD’s Associated Student Government (ASG) held elections for the following year. However, this most-recent election season was missing an aspect that usually comes with elections: campaigning. Last spring there was only one person running for president of student government, and one running for vice president. Most of the other positions had the same number of people running as positions available, if not less, with the exception of atlarge senators, which had seven open positions and 12 candidates. ASG has four equal branches. The Executive Branch is led by
See writers strike, Page 9
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the President, Andres Fernandez Perez. The Legislative Branch includes academic, residential and at-large representatives. The Judicial Branch manages disputes with ASG. The
fourth branch is the Torero Programming Board, which organizes events for students. This fall, ASG elections continued with 18 senate positions to fill, both for
See ASG role, Page 3
Content creation See A&C, page 10
Nebraska volleyball See Sports, page 12