Writers’ Strike in Hollywood: Everything You Need to Know

Today is the start of the writers’ strike in Hollywood. The latter are demanding higher wages from film and television producers, given the rise of streaming platforms. Here’s everything you need to know about the situation.

Hollywood in the middle of an earthquake. This Tuesday begins the strike of film and television screenwriters – whose number is estimated at around 11,500 people – as well as the authors of American “late shows” (Jimmy Kimmel Live, Saturday Night Live, etc.). It follows the failure of negotiations between the writers’ union, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which brings together the major film studios, television networks , and streaming platforms (Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+,…).

business transformations

A first since 2007 when the work stoppage lasted 100 days, with an estimated loss of more than 2 billion dollars for the Los Angeles economy, according to the independent organization Milken Institute. A standoff also took place in 2017, without however leading to the strike.

The authors’ union now laments that, despite the rise of streaming platforms, and the profits reaped by studios – estimated at nearly $30 billion annually – writers’ salaries and working conditions have deteriorated. . In particular due to the fact that series of 8 to 12 episodes are now preferred to those which could count twenty in the past. It is the transformation of their profession, both in practice and from the point of view of the remuneration of their work imposed by streaming, that the authors want to see taken into account. There are also fears about the development of artificial intelligence, and some would like to see safeguards put in place.

The studios would be in trouble

For the studios, the moment to impose such changes is not welcome, arguing that the advertising market is under pressure, that the distribution of the audience is still too volatile, and that the financial markets are starting to be hostile. when some platforms, such as Netflix recently, announce a loss in the number of their subscribers. Disney is currently in the midst of a massive layoff that could see 7,000 people lose their jobs, while Warner Bros. Discovery is trying to control its debt by also cutting its workforce.

The effects of the strike

If programs like the “late show” will be immediately impacted by the strike, which was voted for by an overwhelming majority of screenwriters, this will not be the case for many productions. Not yet, in any case. Soaps should run out of new episodes in a month or two. It will probably be necessary to wait until the end of the year before this makes itself felt on the side of television series, and almost a year before it really affects the diaries of film releases in cinemas.

In parallel with the multiple productions at a standstill, it is also the whole microcosm of professions that revolves around them – drivers, catering, hotels, workers, etc. – who will suffer from the lack of activity. As a reminder, the longest strike by screenwriters dates back to 1988, with a duration of 153 days.