TV writers may go on strike soon. What that means for your favorite shows
A potential strike by Hollywood screenwriters is looming, and it could mean a longer wait for new episodes of your favorite TV show.
Members of the Writers Guild of America, the union representing TV writers, voted Monday to authorize a strike as the union negotiates a new contract with production studios. A record percentage voted in favor of the strike, 97.85%, and a record number of WGA members voted, the industry news site TVLine reported.
It’s been more than a decade since the WGA went on strike, although a strike authorization vote also passed in 2017.
Here’s what to know about the potential writers strike and what it would mean for your TV viewing.
What is the writers strike about?
The decision to authorize a strike was driven by issues with pay levels for screenwriters, the WGA says.
“Median weekly writer-producer pay,” per the union, is down 4% over the last decade, and an increasing number of writers are working for the minimum pay level allowed.
“For screenwriters, compensation has also stagnated over the past four years,” the union said in a March statement. “Their pay is often stretched out over many months and can be held hostage by producers’ demands for free work. Particularly for screenwriters working at or near MBA minimum, these conditions are untenable.”
The rise of scripted series on streaming services has also created pay issues, the WGA claims.
“The companies have used the transition to streaming to cut writer pay and separate writing from production, worsening working conditions for series writers at all levels,” the union says.
Will there still be new TV episodes during a WGA strike?
If union leadership does call a strike in the wake of the member vote authorizing one, the work stoppage would begin once the union’s current contract expires on May 1, Variety reported.
“The vote was widely expected and does not make a strike inevitable,” the entertainment news outlet said. “The union has said that the goal was to increase negotiators’ leverage as talks go down to the wire.”
If a strike does happen, it could lead to fewer new episodes airing on TV or becoming available on streaming platforms.
In 2007, the last time the WGA struck, numerous popular shows went on hiatus and eventually had shorter-than-planned seasons that year.
What was the longest WGA strike?
The longest strike in WGA history happened in 1988, stretching for 153 days.
The 2007 strike lasted 100 days, and there were also WGA strikes in 1960 and 1981.
