On September 27th, after five months of tireless dedication, The Writer’s Guild Association set down the placards and left the picket lines. Their patience was well rewarded with the writers receiving much of what they had been fighting for, most notably an updated contract that caters to the new era of entertainment that thrives on streaming. This offers writers a royalties based income to keep them afloat between seasons..
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers represents the
most prominent studios (Comcast, Apple, Disney, Amazon, Netflix, etc.). AMPTP finally reached a three-year contract with the WGA, which progressively increases minimum writer’s wages each year, adds compensation based on streaming numbers, and includes new protections around the use of AI in the writing and development stage of production. This a significant victory for the writers, as the resolution has immediately brought back late-night television programs including Jimmy Kimmel, The Tonight Show, and Saturday Night Live. Writers can also head back to the writer’s room to start developing new content again, but with the lag and impact of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. Actors who joined writers on strike in July are still on the picket lines, fighting for much of the same including AI replacement protections and payment for streamed projects that would mirror broadcast television residuals for syndication of their work, instead based on stream counts.
Sean Gunn, who played the multi-talented Kirk Gleason on the endlessly popular 2000s series, Gilmore Girls, has made headlines after speaking out about the lack of compensation on streaming services for actors. Gunn posted a reel on his Instagram clearly explaining the purpose of the actor’s strike, “I did an interview… for the Hollywood Reporter… the whole point of my interview is that Netflix doesn’t pay residuals to the actors. So, there’s no sharing in the success of a show with Netflix… they pay a licensing fee to Warner Bros, and that Warner Bros. then pays residuals from that licensing fee, which is a very small amount… when the show is a huge success, and they generate millions of dollars of profits, for Netflix, we don’t share in any of that. Really, this is about fairness for everybody, and we just want to… have a fair deal. If a show’s a success, we want to participate in that.” meaning that actors are not getting fair payment for the success of their work, particularly because there is no contractual obligation equivalent to broadcast residuals.
SAG-AFTRA has been diligent updating members about the status of the strike, encouraging them to have their voices heard. On October 29th, the SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee issued a press release stating, “Over the course of the weekend, we have discussed all open proposals, including AI, with the AMPTP. Both parties will be working independently Monday and re-engage on scheduling at the end of the day. Join us and flood picket lines in the morning. Make your voices heard.” indicating an agreement between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP should be in the foreseeable future, considering the economic pressure on studios to negotiate with the Guild considering the halt in new content.
For the time being, writers will have scripts in progress when actors come back for filming following a deal, meaning audiences can see content coming sooner than later.
As a result of these wage increase contracts that streamers will be impacted by, audiences should expect to pay higher prices for their streaming services.Writers have had their monumental victory, but Hollywood is still dark until the AMPTP comes to a deal with SAG-AFTRA, so it will be a while until viewers see their favorite shows return.
