Will Hollywood’s Strike Last Long?

The dispute, which pits 11,500 television and screenwriters against the major studios, is the first in 15 years.

The Hollywood writers’ strike is on. It has been since Tuesday, May 2nd, but how long will it last?

Anousha Sakoui and Meg James with the Los Angeles Times are confident: it will last long: “There are no plans for talks to resume. Instead, positions are hardening as company executives begin working on contingency plans and writers march in picket lines in LA and NYC.”

“We will not accept a deal that does not address the changes that have made it impossible for writers to earn a living,” Chris Keyser, co-chair of the WGA negotiating committee, said. “We will not make a deal with them until we have protections.”

WGA’s package requests (from boosting minimum pay levels to higher streaming residuals) are valued at $429 million annually, while the studios offered increases valued at about $86 million. Also, the WGA asks for a minimum number of writers per show, a request already rejected by the studios.

“The roots of the current labor conflict were planted during the previous writers’ strike in 2007-08, the first big clash over so-called new media,” writes Anousha Sakoui in the Los Angeles Times. “Since then, the rapid growth of Netflix and other online platforms has dramatically changed how entertainment is consumed and how writers are paid for creating that entertainment. The growth of streaming content – said the writers – has eroded their pay and the ability to earn a living in Hollywood.”

“They want to turn us into a freelance business. They may want to make it impossible for us to earn a living year after year,” Chris Keyser said. Writers will strike “as long as it takes to make a fair deal,” WGA chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman said. “Writers want to be out here until the companies want to help them save their profession.”

The 11,500 members of the Guild have strict rules to follow while the strike is on (the last one, in 2007/08, lasted 100 days, while the longest was in 1988 and lasted 153 days).

WGA members or their agents cannot meet or negotiate with the studios. They may not write or sell or option material, can’t revise existing work, start a new project or deliver work to a struck company, whether they work from home or an office.

The Silverline belongs to reality and international shows, which the Guild does not cover. But the Silverline is tiny: a prolonged production shutdown could damage local economies, particularly those who help support productions, drivers, costume dry cleaners, caterers, set carpenters, and lumber yard workers. When the writers last went on strike in 2007, the Los Angeles economy lost an estimated $2.1 billion.

Sources: Los Angeles Times, Variety, New York Times