It took almost a decade of the number of writers who work in Hollywood to go from just over 5,000 to nearly 7,000 at the Peak TV summit in 2022.
It only took two years to collapse. According to the Writers Guild of America West, 5,228 television and cinema editors have declared an income, the lowest number since 2013.
This disturbance is the dominant theme of the WGA West elections, in progress now. He also informed the guild priorities before the negotiation of the contract next year, the first since the historic strike of five months of 2023.
“This is a very frightening period,” said Jeff Thompson, candidate for vice-president. “I know very few people who are in the industry who feel any feeling of security.”
In the next talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the WGA should focus on strengthening its health and retirement plans, which were an absolute priority in 2017.
“Since then, the rapid increase in health care costs and fewer contributions to the plan due to industry contraction means that we should make intelligent movements in order to continue to provide the high level of care and benefits that our members have fought so difficult to secure,” said Michele Mulroney, who is without opposition for the president of WGA West, in a candidate declaration.
The union also begins to draw its attention to the organization of writers who work on YouTube shows, recognizing that it must follow the pace of the place where the public goes in difficulty in traditional entertainment.
“We see so many non -unionized editors filling the podcast space, the YouTube space. These people create content,” said Daéli Hall, candidate for the board of directors. “Find a nuanced way of becoming partners and being protected as a union.”
Adam Conover, a member of the outgoing board of directors, also pushed to organize writers on the “creative” channels in his candidate declaration.
“They are now scripted narrative content such as sitcoms and soap operas that compete directly with the studios that traditionally employ us,” he wrote. “Like it or not, it is the future of television.”
Upcoming negotiations should also address many problems that have hosted the strike, including artificial intelligence, residues and minimum staff levels in television. Having established a floor of at least three to six writers per program, depending on the number of episodes per season, the guild could seek to increase these figures in the next round.
“It is great that we have obtained a minimum size of the last negotiation room,” said Peter Murrieta, candidate for secretary-treasurer. “People speak:” Is it a soil, or is it the ceiling? ” Get some data and discover. »»
In the middle of the slowdown, many writers spend a lot of time developing and refining ideas that end up going nowhere – leaving them without pay check. Writers of feature films have long complained of “free work”, but now it has become a bigger problem for television editors.
“It will not be easy negotiation,” said Van Robichaux, who also arises for the secretary-treasurer. “We plan that companies will ask for declines.”
Robichaux, who previously ran for the board of directors, said that he was frustrated by a lack of communication from WGA to writers since the end of the strike.
“I think there was a spoiled opportunity to maintain this energy and direct this energy in a positive place,” he said. “Current leadership does not seem to need to communicate with members why there is a slowdown.”
Although neither the companies nor the screenwriters are impatient of another strike, Robichaux said that he would not be surprised to see another vote for strike authorization.
“Solidarity is still strong,” he said. “There is an understanding in the members that he was held together made us in the last strike on things that were really counting. People will stay together again. ”
Some candidates for his functions have expressed discomfort about disciplinary measures taken against four writers earlier this year. The members voted closely to expel two writers accused of having violated the rules of strike and of suspending a third. A writer who made an tasteless joke on Facebook during the strike was also subject to public censorship, but the members voted to overthrow this discipline.
“It made me uncomfortable to see us divided internally by this particular problem,” said Kevin Miller, candidate for the board of directors. “I don’t know it was managed in the best possible way.”
