WGA-SAG Strike
On April 18, 2023, 97.85% of members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) voted to go on strike if they failed to reach a satisfactory agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the major film and television studios in Hollywood. The WGA failed to agree with the AMPTP so on May 2nd, 2023 they went on strike against the AMPTP. A few months later on July 14th the SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) went on strike against the AMPTP as well.
Why did the WGA and the SAG-AFTRA go on strike against the AMPTP? The WGA and SGA-AFTRA called for contracts to include better-streaming residuals, the preservation of the writers room, and protections surrounding the use of AI, but the AMPTP pushed back. The WGA strike ended on September 23rd while the SGA-AFTRA strike ended on November 9th.
WGA Screenwriter and Adjunct Professor of Screenwriting at Indiana University, David Matillo was interviewed and said,” The WGA strike affected me by not allowing any of my work to be read by producers. As a WGA member I could not send scripts out to any Studio Execs, Finaciers, or decision makers to try and get my work produced. I could not pitch on any projects or go up for any OWA’s (Open writing assignments). The SAG strike affected me by not allowing a project I wrote and am directing called HIDDEN FLOWERS to go out to actresses for the lead role. We already have a BAFTA nominated actor Chance Perdomo (GenV) attached to play the lead who was brought on before the strikes, but were not able to go out to actresses before the strike started. Also Another project I have being produced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s company APPIAN WAY was put on hold because our lead actress Hoyeon (Squid Game) has director approval and even though we were able to find a very accomplished director, we were not allowed to even contact Hoyeon to get her approval because of the strike.” This shows that the strikes to a detrimental impact on everyone involved and could make or break someones career especially if they’re not the Christopher Nolans of the world. This was a time of unknown for all people affiliated with the WGA-SAG strikes because set in stone things from before the strikes could not be set in stone things now.
David also states that “The strikes have affected the industry as a whole in that a variety of shows and movies in development or on the air got cancelled. Union Crew members could not work for half of the year. People lost their savings and even their homes. Many overall development deals at studios were cancelled. Many films were not released because the actors were not allowed to promote them or even talk about them on social media.” This shows that this was a scarce time for everyone included because some people lost everything. They lost their job, money, and even their dream of making it big in Hollywood.
David also talks about the future of the WGA-SGA strike and what that entails, “This affects the future in that now writers have protections over AI writing scripts in the industry. The actors did not get the same language in their contract and now are subject to the possibility of not getting jobs unless their likeness can be created and used however the studios want. The scheduling conflicts are robust with a logjam of projects that now need to be shot. Fewer actors are available as they have to complete their backlog of projects first. TV shows are way behind and now will have years in between seasons. The movies that were delayed because the actors could not promote them will now come out in 2024 or 2025 and there will be an influx of competition of projects for those release dates. We can look forward to writers and actors getting paid in a much more fair way with streaming now required to pay larger residuals and bonuses for projects that are the most watched. It was long overdue, and people will be properly compensated for their hard work.” The strikes weren’t all bad as he mentions that actors and writers will be getting paid more fairly now and competition will be high so hopefully the competition means people will work harder so there is an influx of good movie production.
