Writers Guild Of America votes to strike after talks with Hollywood studios fail
Television and movie writers are going on strike for the first time in 15 years in a dispute over fair pay in the streaming era.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) said its 11,500 unionised screenwriters will head to the picket lines on Tuesday.
Negotiations between studios and the writers, which began in March, failed to reach a new contract before the writers’ current deal expired.
All script writing is to immediately cease, the guild informed its members.
The dispute could hit TV and film productions depending on how long the strike lasts.
President Joe Biden on Jimmy Kimmel Live last year
Late-night US talk shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon are expected to go dark immediately and air re-runs.
Next to be disrupted could be daytime soap operas since they are traditionally written not long before they are filmed.
Primetime comedies and dramas currently on air should be able to wrap up seasons uninterrupted – their episodes for the coming weeks will have already been written and filmed.
Netflix, which makes shows around the world, has said it can feed its service with shows produced outside the United States, but its US-based series will be affected if a strike drags on.
The board of directors for the WGA, which includes both a West and an East branch, voted unanimously to call for a strike.
“The companies’ behaviour has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing,” the WGA said in a statement.
“From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a ‘day rate’ in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers, they have closed the door on their labour force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession.
“No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.”
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the trade association that bargains on behalf of studios and production companies, said negotiations fell short of an agreement before the current contract expired.
In a statement, the AMPTP said it was prepared to improve its offer “but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon”.
Writers say they have suffered financially during the streaming TV boom, in part due to shorter seasons and smaller
residual payments.
They are seeking pay increases and changes to industry practices they say force them to work more for less money.
Half of TV series writers now work at minimum salary levels, compared with one-third in the 2013-14 season, according to Guild statistics.
Artificial intelligence is another issue at the bargaining table. The WGA wants safeguards to prevent studios from using AI to generate new scripts from writers’ previous work.
The last WGA strike, in 2007 and 2008, lasted 100 days. The action cost the California economy an estimated $2.1bn (£1.68bn) as productions shut down and out-of-work writers, actors and producers cut back spending.
Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump he “will not back down” from Russia’s goals in Ukraine during a phone call today, the Kremlin has said.
The Russian president spoke to his US counterpart for almost an hour, and Mr Trump “again raised the issue of an early end to military action” in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
In response, Mr Putin said “Russia will not back down” from its aims there, which include “the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs,” Mr Ushakov said.
The phrase “root causes” is shorthand for Moscow’s argument that it was compelled to invade Ukraine in order to prevent the country from joining NATO.
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Trump and Putin’s latest call on Ukraine
Ukraine and its European allies say this is a pretext to justify what they call an imperial-style war, but Mr Trump has previously shown sympathy with Russia.
At the same time, Mr Putin told the US president that Russia is ready to continue negotiating, the aide said.
The Russian president said any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine give up its NATO bid and recognise his country’s territorial gains.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seen with Mr Trump in June, is pushing for Ukraine to join NATO. Pic: Reuters
He also briefed Mr Trump on agreements made last month, which saw Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war and dead soldiers.
Specific dates for the third round of peace talks in Istanbul were not discussed – nor was the US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s call came after the Pentagon confirmed some weapons due to be sent to Ukraine have been held as it reviews military stockpiles.
The paused shipments include air defence missiles and precision-guided artillery, two people familiar with the situation have said.
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The decision led to Ukraine calling in the acting US envoy to Kyiv on Wednesday to underline the importance of military aid from Washington.
Kyiv also cautioned that the move would weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against intensifying Russian airstrikes and battlefield advances.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s phone call was the sixth they have publicly disclosed since the US president returned to the White House in January.
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