Writers in Hollywood today have more opportunities than ever before, and they can take their pick between movies, TV shows, and new digital services. So where’s the problem?
If the Writers Guild of America proves unable to agree to a new contract before the beginning of May, the entire Hollywood production might come to a complete halt. The last time this union was under strike, in 2007, it lasted 100 days and cost a billion dollars!
The WGA decided to go on strike in 2007 for fairer payment compared to studio profits from new media. This might sound like a small problem, but, the Guild represented around 13,000 TV and movie writers at the time, and their 100-day strike led to around 60 TV shows shutting down production as the scripts stopped incoming, and other unions refused to pick up the slack.
Many shows never recovered from this. You might remember that many of your favorite television shows have ended sooner than expected, like Lost, 30 Rock, Bones, ER and Heroes.
So, last time, the WGA wanted an arrangement that will allow writers to get more of the profits from reality TV, DVD’s and online content, and they got it. So, what is it this time?
Here’s what is happening now
The three-year-contract between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) is about to end. The Guild wants a new contract with higher pay for TV writers and much more funding to be directed toward healthcare.
The ever-changing world of entertainment has made it pretty complicated to discern all the sources from which studios are getting their revenue, and this has diminished compensation to TV writers because more and more shows are ordering fewer episodes.
The WGA now has 20.000 members, and they all want higher wage minimums in order to compensate for lost work.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the episode-per-series tally dropped to an average of 13.2 in 2014-15, down from 18.8 three years earlier. This means that while shows enjoy an increase in production value, this becomes a problem for writers who are paid per episode. Especially since all of a sudden, the show takes the same amount of time for fewer episodes.
Many of these writers have another problem – the exclusivity clause in their contracts, which means that they can only work for the show to which they are contracted. And these days it might mean they will only have work for six months of the year – and what about supporting a family or paying rent?
The growth of Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu was swift and obvious, the issue being in the fact that none of that success was visible in writers’ bottom lines.
The main problem the writers are facing is the fact that studios claim that they are also suffering in this era of Peak TV.
This means that these negotiations might end up with writers getting what they are asking for, but at a terrible price. Michael Schneider, an executive producer at IndieWire explained it simply “This gives them the opportunity to clear the deck and transform the way they do business as well, perhaps – pick up fewer shows, fewer pilots, fewer series. On the positive side, if they do get some of what 
they’re asking for — higher minimums or pension security or health care security – that’s a good thing. But it might come at the cost of fewer job opportunities.”
What does this mean for those of us who sit at home and wait for new episodes of our favorite shows?
Well, if you love Netflix – then we have good news. Netflix can sustain itself during a strike. They have a library of acquired content, but also a well-sized backlog of original TV shows and movies just waiting to be released.
On the other hand, their less-than-transparent system shows us that the WGA might be right. The model that is currently in use for residual payment for writers, for revenue from DVD sales or repeats, is based on box office receipts and audience numbers. Netflix never releases audience figures which must confound the existing terms of syndication.
On the other hand, broadcast networks do not have the security Netflix does, and they have much more to lose in terms of loyalty of their viewers. Schneider also commented on this.
“When you suddenly go dark for who knows how long, that just sends a message to consumers that linear TV is even less vital and you push away even more of the few people who are still watching traditional linear TV to streaming [and] to the world of on-demand television,” he said. “And you’re not necessarily going to get those people back.”
So, we can only hope that the WGA and AMPTP reach an understanding in time, so our favorite shows could get proper season endings!