Illuminating members on what big difference were between what the WGA was asking for and what they say the studios were putting on the table, the guild revealed tonight just how truly far apart the two sides were up until the end of talks on the money and the future. “WGA proposals would gain writers approximately $429 million per year; AMPTP’s offer is approximately $86 million per year, 48% of which is from the minimums increase,” stated the guild.
On the topic of AI, the WGA wanted to “regulate use of artificial intelligence on MBA covered projects: AI can’t write or rewrite literary material; can’t be used as source material; and MBA-covered material can’t be used to train AI.” The response from the studios was a rejection of the WGA’s proposal, and then a counter offer of “annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology.”
Unless you're a huge fan of late night talk shows which will shutdown immediately it would take a while for this to marginally effect you. We are drowning in content, but also this entire machine is built on continuous content.
Most shows on the traditional schedule are wrapping or just wrapped their seasons. The big activity is pilots, so a whole lot of pilots are about to get smothered in their sleep, sort of akin to what happen in 2007, the last writer's strike that lasted 100 days.
IATSE, the largest union, the DGA, and the Teamsters are supporting the strike. I talked to some IATSE friends, they have a no strike clause BUT...if they have to cross a picket line they can refuse to do so.
Despite the rise in content, writers have been squeezed partially from something they kinda gave up on in the last strike regarding streaming content. Writers have been asked to do more for less. All those 10 episode shows tend to not have a writers room on top of a shorter window for being staffed.
As you can probably surmise by the post so far, I'm on the WGA's side. Part of the reason all the other unions involved with production are supporting this, because they've been squeezed as well. If you've been dwelling in fandoom (god I love that term) you might have heard people griping about the diminishing quality in effects for leading billion dollar franchises. They've been trying to 'pants it' (ie going by the seat of one's pants) the stories and not giving people in FX (covered by IATSE) enough time or enough budget to get the job done. Over the last two years this whole town has been frazzled. People are holding themselves up with caffeine and spite. Meanwhile the cost of living here continues to rise. Atlanta and Vancouver are not immune to it either.
I was disappointed by IATSE giving in when they did, they could have gotten a better deal but it was complicated. I hope this doesn't last too long, but I do hope they get what they came for.
You can comment on the strike or try to be super cool and talk about how you don't watch things and 'shows these days suck anyway' 'cause you're sooooo cool. You're choice.
