Here's the latest from your friendly neighborhood WGA Captain. First, I'm not going to bury the lede: no one will know if the writers are striking until May 1st, the last day of the negotiations. Whether it ends with an agreement or a strike action, these things always go to the eleventh hour and that will be especially true for this year's talks. But here's what's been happening in the meantime...
Other major Hollywood unions have voiced strong support for the WGA, including SAG-AFTRA, the DGA, and the Teamsters. The former two have their own contract negotiations with the AMPTP coming in May and June.
Networks like Netflix and MAX (fka HBOMAX) have publicly touted their deep reservoirs of projects, making the claim that they can weather a strike better than anyone else. As a writer, I can't help but wonder: when these projects start shooting, who will handle studio notes and production rewrites?
Producers, managers, and agents - on the whole - fully assume a strike will happen. Yet many continue to ask me and fellow writers, "Are you REALLY going to do it?"
It all depends on whether the AMPTP can meet our proposals halfway. On the one hand, Carol Lombardini (AMPTP President and fellow UChicago alum!) has never allowed a strike to occur on her watch. She became President in 2009, on the heels of the painful '07 - '08 writers' strike, and has prided herself on preventing catastrophe thus far. And our negotiating committee is far from zealous and unreasonable either.
On the other hand, the issues and industry landscape have never been more complicated. Big problems that should've been resolved in 2020 were booted due to the pandemic and have festered until now. The relatively new yet gargantuan players in the producers' alliance, like Apple, Amazon, and Netflix, also alter the dynamic. It's truly terra incognita.
On top of all this, the negotiations are happening amid big corporate restructures, as evidenced most recently by the latest round of layoffs at Disney. To the writers, the studios claim they are vulnerable and hurting and could never meet our demands. To their shareholders, the studios proclaim cost-cutting efficiency and record profits. Sorry, I guess my bias is showing through...
Regardless, the WGA is preparing for the worst. We'll be releasing our strike rules soon. The captains are being trained to organize. The picket signs are drawn and ready.
I truly and sincerely don't want the strike to occur. I hope this week's talks yield real progress. We'll know more soon and I'll continue to share what I can!
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