The Hollywood Writers’ Strike Shows A WGA That’s Never Been More Unified

The creators of all those TV shows and movies you can’t stop binge-watching have been forced to stop writing and start picketing. Their solidarity and determination grow stronger by the day as the second week of the WGA strike gets underway.

The 11,500+ members of the Writers Guild of America haven’t had to walk the picket line for 15 years, but they’re refusing to back down. Nearly 98% voted in favor of this strike, and the stakes are higher than ever.

WGA members are fighting for better pay, streaming residuals, mandatory staffing, employment duration, and AI technology safeguards. As for the latter, though the WGA can’t stop the development of AI, assurances can be made to guarantee basic standards of human involvement and fair pay.

According to the WGA, the entertainment industry’s profits have skyrocketed. As of 2000, spending on original streaming content was $5 billion. That number has topped $30 billion in the last few years.

“All we are asking is to share in the wealth we help generate,” said showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer in an interview just after the strike started. She created the Hulu series Tell Me Lies, which was hit hard by the work stoppage when the strike began on May 2.

WGA members have asked for an additional $429 million in annual pay. To counter, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) has offered an uptick of $86 million per year.

To give a little perspective, in 2021, the combined yearly pay for the top six Hollywood CEOs topped $770 million. In contrast, pay for TV writers has fallen by 23% over the last decade.

“I know writers on successful shows who cannot pay their bills because rooms are so short, and they’re working for WGA minimum. And showrunners are working without span protection, which means they often end up working for the minimum, as well. Essentially people are doing more work for less pay. I have never seen more writers at every level feeling so undervalued,” says Oppenheimer.

Historically, there is a high price paid on both sides when there is a strike. The 2007-2008 strike lasted 100 days, costing California’s economy more than $2 billion.

Oppenheimer explains how many people on her show alone have been impacted. Her writing team was working on scripts for the highly-anticipated second season of her TV series when the strike began. “We had only finished three scripts. We also had a few unfinished scripts in various stages. We still have a lot left to do.”

By her side on the picket line has been her husband, actor Tom Ellis, who is known for his starring role on the Netflix series Lucifer. As an actor, he relies heavily on the brilliance of writers. “After living with a writer for the past eight years, I can categorically say that no one works harder from the very start of the process to the very end. Their ideas are the blueprint of everything, and in no other business does the inventor see less of the rewards than everyone else involved with the invention.”

There was a meeting on Saturday wherein showrunners were told to continue doing their non-writing duties. Several studios sent out a letter requiring them to continue to promote their shows and attend events, which would require them to cross the picket lines.

Oppenheimer explains this impacts those showrunners with shows that have all or most of their scripts finished. Since her team was early in the process, she isn’t faced with this tough choice. “I know some shows that have most of their episodes written and are attempting to film, but writers on set are not allowed to make any changes to the script (even for legal clearances). We’re also not allowed to do any editing in post-production, and I don’t think people realize how big a part of our job that is. I probably spend as many hours in the edit bay as I do in the writers’ room.”

Though showrunners can technically continue producing shows with enough scripts to continue filming, their hands are tied. “It’s frowned upon, as it undermines the strike,” Oppenheimer says. “Hearing about teamsters, actors, and others showing solidarity and refusing to cross picket lines is uplifting. A lot of writers are newly in love with Lindsay Dougherty.”

In May of 2022, Dougherty became Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 399, representing more than 6,500 Hollywood IATSE workers. These are the “below-the-line” workers, from grips to craft services to first aid to electricians. When productions go dark during a strike, they are out of work.

Oppenheimer says though they had not started filming, the strike has postponed pre-production and filming on Tell Me Lies, putting approximately 300 crew members (including caterers, set dressers, and directors) out of work on her show alone. “There are about 20 actors per episode and roughly 400 background performers per episode. The most immediately impacted were my writers and our support staff, which includes six writers (other than myself) and four members of IATSE.”

When asked about the differences between this strike and the one in 2007, Oppenheimer, who was still in college then, sees a silver lining. “One thing I have heard repeatedly from writers working during that time is that this is the most unified the WGA has ever felt.”