The Writers Guild of America issued a work stoppage for the first time in 15 years, beginning WGA writers strike for film and television shows after months of speculation.
The Guild announced on Monday that a work stoppage would begin on Tuesday afternoon after negotiations with a labor group representing Hollywood studios and streaming companies couldn’t gain any traction over the weekend.
Since then, various actions have begun popping up outside of studios in California, including picketing at Amazon/Culver Studios, CBS Radford, Disney’s Burbank headquarters, and more. More picketing is planned for Tuesday in New York City as well, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter.
At the crux of the strike is the battle for more money and security for writers as well as regulations on A.I. scriptwriting, which WGA members worry might soon threaten their job security if studios decide to have bots, like ChatGPT, write scripts for them.
In response to the strike, The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — which represents studios and streaming companies in its collective bargaining — confirmed that it had concluded negotiations without an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement.
In its statement, the AMPTP also claimed it had offered a “comprehensive package proposal” that boosted compensation and streaming residuals. The WGA union disagrees with this characterization, saying instead they were “stonewalled” on proposals minimizing work with no pay and regulating A.I. writing.
Report from Variety in March on the possibility of a strike showed that the WGA would be willing to allow artificial intelligence to write scripts, so long as it doesn’t affect the writers’ credits or residuals.
The WGA’s proposal to regulate use of material produced using artificial intelligence or similar technologies ensures the Companies can’t use AI to undermine writers’ working standards including compensation, residuals, separated rights and credits. #WGAStrong ?1/7
— Writers Guild of America West (@WGAWest) March 22, 2023
Both sides currently do not have a scheduled meeting for another round of negotiating, but in the meantime the decision to strike will have an immediate impact on things like late-night television, which often requires constant writing thanks to the 24/7 news cycle.
THR notes that should the strike continue on, the WGA warned that it could also set back network television as it did during the 2007-09 Writers Guild of America strike, which lasted two months and saw a variety of major changes won by the WGA.