On May 2nd, 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike. This strike is one of the biggest writers’ strikes since 1988. The biggest reason for the writers striking is because of residuals from streaming. Residuals are the amount of money an actor or writer gets paid for every time a show is aired. The WGA is claiming that the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP) share of the residuals has been taking a larger cut out of the average writers’ incomes than it had over a decade ago. SAG-AFTRA went on strike as well about 2 months afterward on July 17th. The other reason for going on strike is artificial intelligence. Writers want ChatGPT, a popular AI tool, and any other Artificial Intelligence to be used only as a tool instead of a replacement for writers.
Many writers are not paid well enough, with many not being able to make ends meet. Studios are trying to remove writers’ rooms entirely. For those who are not familiar with writers’ rooms are places where writers get together, break down stories, and write scripts. However studios want to get rid of those areas entirely, they’ve made efforts to make them smaller and a lot harder to use. Studios would prefer to employ freelance work and hire people for a smaller fee. However, with that smaller fee, many writers cannot make a living. A lot of writers live in bigger cities like New York that have higher tax rates than other cities, and especially with inflation it makes it virtually impossible to stay afloat.
Although ChatGPT and other AIs are not advanced enough to write entire episodes and movies, WGA is still trying to proactively set limits on its uses. While they haven’t publicly stated their demands for AI. actors have been concerned for other reasons. Actors are worried about AI because background actors could be scanned and only paid for a single day’s worth of work and get paid next to nothing for their likeness.
The AMPTP has offered an agreement that would pay writers more generously as well as higher compensation, a compounded 13% increase over a 3-year contract. They have also stated to the WGA that they are still open to improving the contract, however, they have been unwilling to do so due to the proposals that the WGA is insisting on. The WGA is urging the AMPTP to have “mandatory staffing” and “duration of employment.” Having these policies would ensure that writers would have jobs by having a company employ a certain amount of writers, whether or not the show needed that many writers.
It’s hard to say if there’s an end in sight for the writers’ strike, although progress is being made. Proposals have been made by AMPTP and they are open to more discussions but without any guarantees on making sure writers have jobs and restrictions on artificial intelligence, there is no telling how much longer the strike may last.
