Writer's Strike

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Hollywood Writers Approve of Strike as Shutdown Looms​


The unions representing thousands of television and movie writers said on Monday that they had overwhelming support for a strike, giving union leaders the right to call for a walkout when the writers’ contract with the major Hollywood studios expires on May 1.

The unions, which are affiliated East and West coast branches of the Writers Guild of America, said more than 9,000 writers had approved a strike authorization, with 98 percent of the vote.

W.G.A. leaders have said this is an “existential” moment for writers, contending that compensation has stagnated over the last decade despite the explosion of television series in the streaming era. In an email last week to writers, the lead negotiators said that “the survival of writing as a profession is at stake in this negotiation.”

With two weeks to go before the contract expires, there has been little sign of progress in the talks. In the email, the negotiating committee said the studios “have failed to offer meaningful responses on the core economic issues” and offered only small concessions in a few areas.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/business/media/hollywood-writers-strike-vote.html
 

Devilmaycare

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Dang, the last time this led to *shudder* reality TV. I'm hearing whispers that this will lead chatbot/AI writing into the mix? I mean, I have no doubt the writers are getting screwed and this is a legit strike. I just hope it doesn't lead to bad places.
+1 This has been one of my concerns as well. I'm hoping we don't lose any good shows either like we did in 2008. Heroes and Pushing Daisies both were ruined by it. With most shows being streaming now and with streaming's way to long between seasons, there's probably less of a chance of that now but we shall see.

Hopefully this will end up being for the good where the writers get to write again for the shows and they're not being driven by 500 "producers" anymore. I think we all win with that outcome.
 

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+1 This has been one of my concerns as well. I'm hoping we don't lose any good shows either like we did in 2008. Heroes and Pushing Daisies both were ruined by it. With most shows being streaming now and with streaming's way to long between seasons, there's probably less of a chance of that now but we shall see.

Hopefully this will end up being for the good where the writers get to write again for the shows and they're not being driven by 500 "producers" anymore. I think we all win with that outcome.
Heroes stunk well before the strike. 5,000 story lines and I timed it out once, each one got something between 45 seconds to a minute and a half at a time. Oof. Never saw Pushing Daisies.
 

Devilmaycare

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Heroes stunk well before the strike. 5,000 story lines and I timed it out once, each one got something between 45 seconds to a minute and a half at a time. Oof. Never saw Pushing Daisies.
I liked S1 of it and then it was S2 that lost me. Pushing Daisies was a quirky good. It probably would have struggled long term on network TV but would have made for a great streaming show if they existed then.

I thought Lost was affected by the Strike as well. Serialized shows got hit the worst.
Yeah, it probably did too. Although with Lost how could you tell? ;)
 

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I liked S1 of it and then it was S2 that lost me. Pushing Daisies was a quirky good. It probably would have struggled long term on network TV but would have made for a great streaming show if they existed then.


Yeah, it probably did too. Although with Lost how could you tell? ;)
Because the first 3-4 seasons were gold and then it went terrible?
 

Devilmaycare

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While that would suck, their voices need to be heard and their problems addressed.
Hopefully that's what happens and everything doesn't turn into Reality TV written by ChatGPT. That's my biggest fear with it. I want to watch well written shows. Not garbage thrown together by a bunch of producers.
 

gimpy

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Doesn’t bother me as far as watching because we stream everything, mostly old shows.:sad:

That being said, I hope they get it worked out to every one’s satisfaction.
 

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damn... I thought they were still on strike from like 2008... if they came back. what the **** happened to TV?
 

Brian in Mesa

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Last time around, Breaking Bad was affected. The first season had to be shortened by a couple of episodes. They changed cinematographers between the first and second season and slowed the plot down considerably.

Here's Vince Gilligan:

“We’re not just doing those two episodes coming into season two. We threw those out completely and we’re starting somewhere else. We’re building more slowly than we otherwise would have built.”
 

Russ Smith

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Adam from Adam Ruins Everything was on CNN this morning about this. Said streaming has cut writers salaries substantially, and "there's no writers room now if you're not on a show you're not getting paid." The surprise to me is there are so many shows now on tv and movies but apparently lots of writers are unemployed because of the no writers room policy now.

He said they have all seen substantial paycuts and no benefits etc.

He was pretty clear he's very much in favor of the strike said it had to happen
 

Stout

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Adam from Adam Ruins Everything was on CNN this morning about this. Said streaming has cut writers salaries substantially, and "there's no writers room now if you're not on a show you're not getting paid." The surprise to me is there are so many shows now on tv and movies but apparently lots of writers are unemployed because of the no writers room policy now.

He said they have all seen substantial paycuts and no benefits etc.

He was pretty clear he's very much in favor of the strike said it had to happen
No writers room smdh No wonder some of these shows have such idiotic writing in them--no critique happening, no brainstorming. For instance:

I'm watching the fairly awful Citadel. Woof, it's bad. Anyway, they're fighting an underboss kind of tough guy. They're spies, he's from an organization that murdered most of their organization. They kick the crap out of him...then just leave him unconscious. No frakking way. Why would these characters make this choice? Because the writer needed the guy alive later.

AWFUL writing. But the writer probably didn't have anybody there to, ya know, let them know it and help them work their way out of it.

I definitely don't know and wouldn't be good at TV writing. What I do know is that very few writers simply write in a vacuum without anybody else putting eyes on their words, and still write quality material. It takes a village--or a writers room.
 

Russ Smith

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No writers room smdh No wonder some of these shows have such idiotic writing in them--no critique happening, no brainstorming. For instance:

I'm watching the fairly awful Citadel. Woof, it's bad. Anyway, they're fighting an underboss kind of tough guy. They're spies, he's from an organization that murdered most of their organization. They kick the crap out of him...then just leave him unconscious. No frakking way. Why would these characters make this choice? Because the writer needed the guy alive later.

AWFUL writing. But the writer probably didn't have anybody there to, ya know, let them know it and help them work their way out of it.

I definitely don't know and wouldn't be good at TV writing. What I do know is that very few writers simply write in a vacuum without anybody else putting eyes on their words, and still write quality material. It takes a village--or a writers room.

FYI agree on the spoiler I only made it through 2 episodes of that show and gave up
 

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Adam from Adam Ruins Everything was on CNN this morning about this. Said streaming has cut writers salaries substantially, and "there's no writers room now if you're not on a show you're not getting paid." The surprise to me is there are so many shows now on tv and movies but apparently lots of writers are unemployed because of the no writers room policy now.

He said they have all seen substantial paycuts and no benefits etc.

He was pretty clear he's very much in favor of the strike said it had to happen
 

Russ Smith

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Yeah that was the best part. He said the guy who owns CNN made more money by himself last year than ALL the writers combined make.

Sidner was pretty funny during the interview at the end she said something about since you ruin everything you probably just cost me my job but thank you for coming on the show.
 

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