Recently, you may have noticed that some of your favorite movies and TV shows have started pushing back their release dates, or even hinted they will not be returning at all. This is due to the striking of hundreds of Hollywood screenwriters walking out of productions this spring due to unfair working conditions. With popular TV shows such as “Stranger Things” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” both pushing back their initial 2024 releases, it has become more apparent that this writers’ strike will have substantial effects. The strike officially started on May 2, 2023, immediately shutting down programs such as “Saturday Night Live,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”. But why are writers walking out? While it might be assumed that all moving parts of Hollywood make fair wages as parts of such large and important corporations, screenwriters have been silently suffering for years. 

Since the rise of streaming platforms and the decline of traditional cinema, Hollywood has quickly altered how they make money from film and TV, ultimately causing a domino effect across the board. Even corporations like  Disney, which has acquired a large majority of American media companies, are scrambling to continue building up Disney+ and Hulu while still maintaining profits. Due to this rapid change, corporations are purposely “forgetting” to take care of their employees. The toxic combination of low wages, changes in writing atmospheres, and the rise of artificial intelligence has forced writers to speak up. After months of the Writers Guild of America desperately trying to negotiate terms with productions such as the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — which includes Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount, Sony, Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and Disney —  it became clear that a new solution was needed.

Streaming services have always had a significant impact on how studios operate and structure their films and TV. For example, with the “binge-era” of TV, writers are often expected to produce more episodes in a much shorter time frame compared to previous years. This crunch has also resulted in the creation of “mini-rooms”, a small group of writers typically working with the showrunner to break down the season's plot points and work on scripts. This ultimately changed the entire writing process and timeline, with these “mini-room” writers essentially being forced out of production once the writing was finished.  Not only does this cut writers out of their own work, but it also has the potential to result in rushed endings and unsatisfied viewers.

In recent research on the effects of streaming on minimum rates for writers, it was found that the average weekly writer-producer pay has declined by 23% over the last decade when adjusting for inflation. This has sparked debate on whether or not studios have used the streaming transition as a way to reduce writers' pay and purposely separate them from production. This would allow for producers to continue to make money while still having  writers to fall back on if the show tanks in viewership. Furthermore, with the rise of the popularity of AI use, writers are also in danger of having their jobs taken away altogether. Creative writing is at risk in the filmmaking business for not only writers but background players who contribute to the entertainment business.

While some corporations maintained they were okay with letting the writers’ strike continue until it resulted in economic consequences, the inevitable addition of actors and authors to the strike changed the playing field. By its conclusion, a total of 160,000 people in the industry, including actors, recording artists, radio personalities, and other media professionals represented by SAG-AFTRA joined the fight. Actors such as Jennifer Coolidge, Amanda Seyfried, Jimmy Fallon, Pete Davidson, Mindy Kaling, and Florence Pugh have been transparent on social media about their stance, with some even attending the strikes themselves.  Authors have also contributed to the strike, with  “Game of Thrones” writer George R.R. Martin going so far as to say that, “the producers and the studios and the networks and the streamers gave us no choice.” The effect this has already had is groundbreaking with the public stand actors have taken. An example of this can be seen in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” cast walking out of the film’s U.K. premiere. The introduction of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has forced corporations to listen at last.

This is not the first time writers have had to stand up for their rights. In 2008 a three-month writing strike disrupted the seasons of many hit shows, including “The Office,” “Friday Night Lights,” and “Breaking Bad.” Due to this, an influx of reality shows took over TV in an attempt to hide the consequences of the strike. Fast forward almost 20 years, writers are still struggling to be treated fairly. Thankfully after 148 days, the second longest strike in the WGA history, an agreement was approved on September 26 by 99% of the WGA. While organizations originally hoped to drag out the strike until production companies started economically struggling, they eventually relented after the addition of several other parts of the entertainment industry forced numerous productions to be halted and even canceled. Reasonable demands like increased and relative compensation, staffing requirements, and protections from artificial intelligence job interference were ultimately met. Another critical addition also allowed writers to benefit from streaming services' success. A bonus is added if a show is watched by 20% or more of a streamer’s domestic subscribers in the first 90 days of release. 

With writers and other crew members returning to reasonable working conditions, productions have already started to fix the damage done. Currently, production companies appear to be continuing the change their writers started,  ensuring that streaming services will continue to change with the times in terms of fair compensation and working conditions.

Written by Maddie Townsend, Photography: Alex Mounir, Social Media: Ellianah Murcia, Videography: Antonio Gutierrez