LOS ANGELES, May 2 (Reuters) – Hollywood film and television writers went on strike on Tuesday, shutting down late-night TV shows and taking their demands for higher pay to the doors of major studios in a labor dispute that is pending brought The streaming boom is changing show business.
Hundreds of members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) demonstrated in New York and Los Angeles in the first work stoppage in Hollywood in 15 years.
“We’re demanding very fair compensation, and the studios basically laughed at us,” said 45-year-old writer Daniel Talbott, as guild members protested outside the Paramount film studio (PARA.O) in Hollywood, one of more than a dozen pickets. “We try to fight for our rights.”
A group representing Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) and other studios said it had offered “generous” compensation, but the sides were unable to reach an agreement in last-minute talks Monday achieve.
It turned out that some actors supported the 11,500 writers who were on strike.
“I support the writers because we’re only as good as actors as we write,” said Rob Lowe, who picketed with his son, writer-actor John Owen Lowe.
In New York, WGA members marched outside a building where Comcast Corp’s streaming service Peacock (CMCSA.O) was giving a presentation to advertisers, chanting “No writers. No TV”.
Writers got creative with their pickets. One read “What Would Larry David Do?” while another threatened, “Pay your writers or we spoil the ‘succession’.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and other late-night shows canceled new episodes and aired reruns after their writing teams failed to write timely jokes.
The sketch show “Saturday Night Live” has also been suspended indefinitely.
On Monday night, the WGA said its leadership unanimously supported a strike against the studios. “Corporate behavior has created a gig economy within a unionized workforce,” the WGA said in a statement.
Among other things, the guild is seeking changes to pay and the formulas used to compensate authors when their work is streamed. According to a negotiation summary posted on Twitter and confirmed authentic by Reuters, the WGA estimated its changes would cost about $429 million a year.
“Both sides are buried”
The strike comes at a difficult time for Hollywood studios. Conglomerates are under pressure from Wall Street to make their streaming services profitable after pumping billions of dollars into programming to attract subscribers.
[1/4] Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) East picket outside the offices of streaming service Peacock Newfront in New York City, U.S. May 2, 2023. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
The rise of streaming has eroded TV advertising revenue as traditional TV audiences shrink.
The last WGA strike in 2007 and 2008 lasted 100 days. It cost the California economy an estimated $2.1 billion as productions halted and unemployed writers, actors and producers cut spending.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the current strike will have “profound direct and indirect consequences”.
“We’re very concerned about what’s going on because both sides are dug in and the stakes are high,” the Democratic governor said at a Milken Institute conference.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents studios, said it had proposed “generous pay increases” and was ready to expand its offering.
But it said it had objected to WGA demands, which “would require a company to staff a show with a specified number of writers for a specified period of time, whether necessary or not.”
In Washington, the White House “encouraged both sides to stay at the table,” spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.
The authors said they were willing to quit the job because the changes brought on by streaming have made it difficult for many to make a living in expensive cities like New York and Los Angeles.
According to WGA statistics, half of television series writers now work on a minimum salary, compared with a third in the 2013-14 season. The median wage for writers at the senior writer/producer level has fallen by 4% over the past decade.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is another topic at the negotiating table.
The WGA wants safeguards in place to prevent studios from using AI to create new scripts from authors’ previous work, or asking them to rewrite AI-created drafts.
Television production ground to a halt in Los Angeles. Film LA, which issues permits for filming in the city, said no filming of scripted shows was scheduled for Tuesday or the rest of the week.
The only late-night program scheduled to air new episodes was Fox News’ Gutfeld! which employs non-union writers.
If the downtime lasts longer, broadcasters will increasingly fill their schedules with unscripted reality shows, news reps and reruns. It could also delay the crucial fall TV season, for which writing for shows typically begins in May or June.
Netflix may be closed to immediate impact due to its global reach and access to production facilities outside of the United States.
Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell
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