Hollywood's film and TV writers could go on strike this week. Here's what you need to know
CBC
Hollywood film and television writers could strike on Tuesday if their demands aren't met during contract negotiations with the industry's largest production companies.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA), a labour union representing film and TV writers, is renegotiating a three-year contract for 11,500 members that is set to expire this week. It's in talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), an association that represents America's studios, streaming services and production houses.
The WGA received overwhelming support from its members earlier this month to authorize a strike, if a deal isn't reached.
Here's what you need to know about a potential writers' strike.
Film and television writers are seeking pay increases from large studios and production companies such as Netflix and Disney. The WGA says that working conditions have declined during the streaming era and that writer compensation has suffered due to shortened seasons, smaller residuals and the rise of writers' "mini-rooms."
Mini-rooms are pre-production groups, usually made up of a showrunner-creator and a few writers, who work ahead on several scripts of a potential show's first season to offer to streaming executives. Rather than the traditional pipeline of ordering a TV series from a pilot episode, some companies are now opting for script-to-series orders.
The practice of mini-rooms is meant to give executives a sense of the series' direction as well as its budget. But critics say they offer less pay. Many TV and film writers are based in New York and Los Angeles, industry centres with a high cost of living.
The WGA is also pushing studios to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in scriptwriting. While it says it's open to the use of the technology (so long as writers maintain sole credit of the work), the guild has also said that AI can't be used to undermine screenwriters and their work by impacting their compensation.
A walkout could begin as early as Tuesday morning. If it does, union members have to abide by a strict set of rules that the WGA has released in advance.
As soon as a strike begins, writers can't meet, negotiate with or work for a struck company. That includes selling or optioning material, according to the WGA's negotiations website.
Writers must also send a formal statement to their agents and professional representatives forbidding them from doing any business on their behalf.
Any union members who violate the strike rules and cross picket line can be disciplined by the guild for jeopardizing the strike process.
The AMPTP, which represents Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Comcast and other corporations in the contract negotiations, says its goal is to reach "a fair and reasonable agreement" with the guild.
Sources close to the studios have said that budgets are tight and companies are focused on profiting from expensive streaming investments that haven't been as fruitful as expected, according to Reuters.
