Screenwriters want to be roommates – Kommersant

In the United States, the first strike of screenwriters in 15 years has begun, protesting against working conditions and pay on TV channels and streaming services. Last time, the film and television industry lost, according to various estimates, from $1.3 billion to more than $2 billion. About what the writers are fighting for now and what the consequences for the industry and viewers can be if they do not come to an agreement with the studios, tells Yulia Shagelman.

On May 1, a three-year contract between the Writers Guild (WGA), a trade union representing 11,500 professionals, and the Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance (AMPTP) expired. This was preceded by six weeks of negotiations to raise the minimum wage for screenwriters, equalize salaries for those who write for film, broadcast and cable television and streaming, increase pension and insurance contributions, and even regulate the use of artificial intelligence in the production of scripts. Negotiations failed, and in mid-April, almost 98% of the guild members voted in favor of the strike. It began on Tuesday, May 2, its timing has not been determined – everything will depend on the response of AMPTP.

The main trigger for friction between WGA and AMPTP was the changes that have taken place in the industry due to the “streaming revolution”, which has changed viewing habits and the very business model of modern television.

If earlier the standard serial season consisted of 22–24 episodes and scriptwriters were hired to work on it for eight to nine months, and this work continued when the first episodes were already filmed and even aired, now seasons have been reduced to six to ten episodesand all of them must be written 10-13 weeks before the show goes into production. As work hours decrease, so do wages.

In the “golden age” of the early-mid-2000s, when the writers who created The Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad and other legendary series became the kings of television, they worked in real “script rooms” where they exchanged ideas in a lively creative atmosphere, and were also present on the set. Thanks to this, aspiring authors could learn TV cooking and grow professionally. Now almost the entire process has been moved online. – this, of course, contributed to the pandemic, but the producers happily seized on the technology to reduce costs. The idea of ​​the so-called mini scenario room has become popularwhen the studio hires just two or three writers for a minimal fee to test ideas, often before the series is even greenlit. If in the end the show never gets started, they’re out of work. One of the demands of the strikers now is just to stop the abuse of this “mini” format.

WGA notes that over the past ten years, the salaries of screenwriters have decreased by 4% (adjusted for inflation – by 23%) and 49% of them receive only the minimum contractual salary (in 2013 there were only 33%). The Guild is also concerned about the growing financial gulf between its top echelon members and everyone else. While showrunners like Ryan Murphy and Shonda Rhimes are getting $200 million to $300 million in streaming deals, for keyboard workers, the profession of TV screenwriter has gone from being a prestigious and creative profession to one that barely allows one to make ends meet. In social networks, for example, the story told in the magazine was widely discussed The New Yorker the story of one of the writers for The Bear, who won the WGA Award for Best Comedy Series, who came to the awards ceremony with a negative bank account – and a bow tie bought on credit.

For the duration of the strike, WGA members are prohibited from working on scripts in any form, or even pitching ideas to studios.

Violators will be fined and/or expelled from the guild. For those who are not part of it, the WGA warned that in the event of a strikebreaking, they will lose the opportunity to join a union in the future.

The first victims, like the last time the strike lasted a hundred days from November 2007 to February 2008, were late-night talk shows, which had already stopped airing since Tuesday, and the comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live, which canceled its upcoming live shows. ethers. Following them, similar daytime programs will switch to reruns, and TV channels will be forced to reduce the number of episodes in those serial seasons that are not yet fully ready. The resulting holes will be filled with reality shows and other programs that do not require scripts. Streaming services, which, as mentioned above, order entire seasons, have enough fresh projects for a while.

Thus, ironically, they, who have become the main source of tension in this situation, will initially suffer less than other content producers, but they will also run out of it if the strike drags on.

As far as cinema is concerned, first of all, the break will affect films that were scheduled to premiere in the second half of 2024 – they will move, and as a result, studios will have to revise the entire release schedule for the end of this year and next. It is possible that some projects that are currently at the scenario development stage will be canceled altogether. Viewers who remember movie shutdowns, shortened seasons, and abruptly cut series storylines during the last strike understand that the consequences will be noticeable now, even as content has increased in recent years.

In addition, the actors’ (SAG-AFTRA) and director’s (DGA) guilds are closely watching the strike as they are discussing their contracts with AMPTP right now. The deadline for these negotiations ends on June 30, and if the producers do not agree to their terms, SAG has already promised to join the writers. If it comes to that, the blow to the industry, still reeling from the effects of the pandemic, will become even stronger. At the same time, experts have little doubt that AMPTP will be forced to make concessions, the only question is how long it will take. The solution to the problem lies on the surface – as actress Amanda Seyfried said when asked to comment on the strike: “Streaming has changed everything, and everyone should be compensated for their work. It’s so damn simple.”