The Hollywood scene was rocked last year as writers and performers united in a historic strike, the first of its kind in over six decades.
Their demands were clear: increased minimum pay, better benefits, and enhanced protections. However, as the dust settles and production resumes, many are left questioning the true value of their hard-fought victory.
According to The Business Insider, the strike, which lasted several months, resulted in significant wins for the Screen Actors Guild?American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) actors and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). The former secured minimum pay increases and additional benefits, while the latter achieved higher pay, residuals, and provisions for minimum staff in television writers' rooms, among other things. The WGA hailed the agreement as "exceptional."
Yet, the reality of the post-strike landscape has led some to question these victories. With fewer shows being commissioned and budgets tightening, the actual gains seem less significant. The slowdown in spending on new entertainment content, which began even before the strike due to Netflix's growth hiccup, has only exacerbated the situation. The decline in moviegoing continues unabated, and since the strike's conclusion, Warner Bros. and Paramount have written down $15 billion in the value of their cable networks.
Data from tracking company ProdPro reveals a 37% decrease in the total number of productions filming in the US in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2022, before the strike. A study by Otis College of Art and Design further highlights the impact, showing a 25% decline in film and TV employment since its peak in 2022, a trend accelerated by the strike.
Concerns were raised during the negotiations about the WGA's proposed staffing minimums. Some showrunners feared that these could limit their autonomy in hiring decisions. As one anonymous TV agent noted, "The conglomerates have the leverage. The majority of writers I work with are all thinking: 'Why the hell did we strike?'"
With studios cutting back on show budgets, showrunners are limited in the number of people they can hire for writers' rooms, where TV scripts are traditionally developed and refined. This has resulted in fewer job opportunities in a market that had previously expanded to meet the needs of Peak TV.
Moreover, there are concerns that studios are exploiting the WGA contract to produce solo-writer shows like "The White Lotus." An anonymous TV writer expressed fears that studios are attempting to circumvent the contract, with more showrunners being asked to write all episodes to avoid having a writers' room.
The controversial writers' "mini rooms" that emerged in recent years are also at risk. These mini rooms, which were created during the Peak TV era to produce some scripts early in a show's development, typically employ fewer writers than regular writers' rooms and pay them less. They have been criticized for offering fewer opportunities to newer writers.
Despite these challenges, some see a silver lining. Zoe Marshall, a writer for "Elsbeth" and a WGA West board member, reported a 73% increase in her mini room pay since the WGA contract took effect. She also noted a decrease in late payments, stating, "Maybe it's just a cultural understanding that we are not playing around with our money. We're not only demanding higher compensation, we want to be paid in full and on time, and people seem to finally understand that."
However, the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) in Hollywood has raised new concerns. The writers secured a requirement for studios and production companies to disclose if any material given to them was generated by AI. Actors also won protections against the use of AI. Yet, tech companies like Google parent Alphabet, Meta, and OpenAI are pushing Hollywood studios to provide their entertainment content to train their AI models. Some fear that the union contracts' language is too broad and has multiple loopholes.
Entertainment lawyer Jonathan Handel, who reported on the strikes for Puck, identified the squeeze on budgets and AI's continued encroachment as the biggest issues facing Hollywood now. He stated, "Everybody's second-guessing, but what they're second-guessing are the AI provisions, and now that there's less work, what did we strike for? People are shell-shocked that there is so much less work, period. People are increasingly terrified of the effects of AI."
As Hollywood grapples with these challenges, the question remains: Was the strike worth it? The answer, it seems, is as complex and multifaceted as the industry itself.
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