For the first time since 2007, more than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have begun their strike. This action could immediately halt the production of numerous television programmes and postpone the launch of new seasons of others later this year.
The union leadership in a statement said, “Though we negotiated intent on making a fair deal … the studios’ responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing.”
“They have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership,” the statement added.
The WGA tweeted that it would not make picket lines until Tuesday afternoon, despite the fact that union members would go on strike starting at 11 am MUT on Tuesday.
In response, the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP), which is negotiating on behalf of studio management, said it was willing to strengthen its offer but was not willing to satisfy all of the union’s demands.
“The primary sticking points are ‘mandatory staffing,’ and ‘duration of employment’ — Guild proposals that would require a company to staff a show with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or not,” according to the statement from management’s negotiating group.
“Member companies remain united in their desire to reach a deal that is mutually beneficial to writers and the health and longevity of the industry, and to avoid hardship to the thousands of employees who depend upon the industry for their livelihoods.”
The separation between the two sides hinted that this might be the beginning of a lengthy strike. The most recent strike, which began in November 2007 and continued until February 2008, lasted 100 days. After the talks crossed more than three hours before the strike deadline on Monday night, according to AMPTP, there were no talks scheduled for Tuesday.
Due to the film and TV writers’ strike, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will start running rerun episodes on Tuesday, according to people close to the shows.
Seth Meyers, the host of the programme, warned his audience that if there is a strike, Late Night with Seth Meyers won’t be airing because he was on the picket line as a writer at SNL during the previous strike.
Both parties claim that they are experiencing financial hardship at the time of the strike.
Amazon, Apple, CBS, Disney, NBC Universal, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony, and CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, are among the companies represented under the multi-employer pact between the WGA and AMPTP. The stock prices of several of those businesses have fallen, forcing drastic cost cuts including layoffs.
However, as the industry shifts away from tr
 have begun their strike.){kind=link}