Writer's On Strike: What It Means For You and Your Favorite Shows

​Well, the writers are on strike again. This is going to suck hard.

You've seen the headlines online. On your twitter feed. Instagram. The writers are on strike and you may feel confused and curious. Why are they on strike? Why should I care? Writers create the stories that you enjoy. You're obsession with the characters, their growth and downfalls are all because of writers. Writers are being taken advantage of.
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In order to understand the reasoning behind the strike, we should know the players involved. They include the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The WGA is a union for writers. The same way there are labor unions to protect workers when it comes to health, pay and work conditions, the WGA does that for writers. Writers voted to strike after failing to reach a content agreement with AMPTP who represent Hollywood studios and companies like Warner Bros, Netflix, Paramount, Prime Video, Discovery and more.

Now that we know the players, what's the strike about? It's several things:

• Fairer deals and contracts
• Better and equal pay
• Protection from AI
• Streaming services

The main culprit is pay. Fair. Equal. Pay. When you perform your job descriptions, your paid for the work. If a promotion ensues, you receive a bump in pay. If you work overtime, you receive additional compensation. Writers don't get the same opportunity.

During the era of cable, there were networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) that still exist and are owned by studios. Parent companies like Universal and Disney. The scenario is simple, a writer writes an episode and gets paid. This is fair. If an episode runs multiple times aka reruns, the writer receives residuals. Again, this is fair.

Here's where it gets fucked up.

Streaming services have become the ideal way to watch TV. It's fast. It's immediate. There's a lot more options. The attraction is, its saved. You can watch an entire season in one go. You can watch an episode or series as many times as you want. You're not tied down to cable's time schedule.

Writers aren't working for a network. They're working for studios. Studio that has many branches and can now be played on various services. A show like Rick and Morty is very popular on Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network is home to Warner Bros. Rick and Morty can be viewed on Hulu and HBOMax. It's now a preserved content. There's no way to retrieve residuals. A writer who once was making $10,000 - $20,000 an episode is now making $15 - $20 on streaming. That is a huge pay cut.

What does that mean for you?

Well, there won't be any new shows for a while. Considering 2023-2024 tv season are usually brainstormed and complied around this time, your favorite shows will be delayed until both sides can agree. It also means late night shows like Jimmy Kimmel live, SNL and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon are immediately on hold. Any podcasts that are fiction and story based are shutdown. 

To learn more about the 2023 Writer's Strike and how you can help visit https://www.wgacontract2023.org/