On the Hollywood Writers Guild strike and why writers matter
Issue #320 OpEd May 15, 2023
So, first of all, let’s start with the obvious reason why I support the Hollywood Writers Guild strike; I’m a writer. I have been a professional writer for going on four decades, and the rest of the time I have more or less been pursuing a professional writing career, even when I didn’t know that’s what I was doing.
No, I’m not in Hollywood. Closest I’ve ever been to Hollywood is viewing those big H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D letters from afar when visiting relatives, most of whom live in the LA area. I don’t even know anybody who writes for Hollywood, although if I stop and think about it, I probably know someone who maybe wrote for a show. Maybe. I mean, it’s possible.
But it doesn’t matter. Because anyone who has been a professional writer for any length of time is painfully familiar with having to constantly prove your value - and the value of your craft - to others who can barely spell their own name but are somehow confident can write a better story than you. And sometimes that ignorant assessment can come from your own boss at a supposed news organization who, again, has never written anything even vaguely resembling a news story or a story of any kind throughout the duration of his/her miserable little life.
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Enough about my gripes. Because like I said, as writers, we all have experienced variations of the same frustration, mainly not being valued for what we do because nobody except those who do what we do seems to recognize it ain’t easy doing what we do.
And when it comes to the Hollywood situation, I’m going to avoid getting into the deep weeds about all the intricacies of the contract negotiation particulars because it makes my eyes glaze over. Not to say it’s not all-important, because details matter. But trying to unravel it all in the space of one post is a bit much.
Also, it’s not necessary. All that really needs to be understood - in my humble opinion - is that the writers are tired of getting screwed and being treated like second-class citizens in an industry that literally can’t survive without their talents.
We all know the names of various BIG NAME HOLLYWOOD STARS, but those BIG HOLLYWOOD STARS wouldn’t have a word to utter on screen if not for the writers who create those scripts that turn those once-upon-a-time struggling actors into BIG HOLLYWOOD STARS.
And this time, even a fair number of those BIG HOLLYWOOD STARS are openly recognizing this fact and are honoring the picket line and openly supporting the writers. And, quick sidebar, as someone who has been on a picket line for five years during the longest newspaper strike in history right here in Detroit, my heart smiles when striking workers are supported and picket lines are honored.
So according to the New York Times, here’s the basics of what the strike is about:
The writers have said there were several issues that were vital to them in this negotiation, including putting up guardrails about artificial intelligence. But compensation is the most crucial issue to them.
They have argued that the streaming world has eroded their working conditions. Many streaming shows have 8 to 12 episodes per season, compared with the more than 20 episodes made for traditional television.
Writers are fighting for better residual pay — a type of royalty for reruns and other showings — which they have said is a crucial source of income for the middle-class writer who has been upended by streaming.
As for the studio execs, they are saying that now isn’t the best time to be changing the template for how writers get paid because they’re just hemorrhaging all this cash because nobody is watching regular TV anymore and everybody’s going to streaming and so they have to figure out how to keep making all those billions with streaming that they had been making before because otherwise oh dear HOW will they SURVIVE?
But here’s the thing; writers in Hollywood were still getting screwed before anybody even knew what streaming was. Now, it may have been a more comfortable sort of getting screwed, the kind of getting screwed where you know you deserve more but you can live with it and anyhow it’s not worth the fight.
And yet they were still getting screwed. Which would explain the 98% Guild vote in favor of going on strike that was held in April. You just don’t get that kind of unity in favor of a strike (which is no fun, let me tell you) if everything had been just rosy all those years before.
So yeah. I support the writers. And I always will. Because we’re the ones who tell the stories, and more importantly we’re the ones who make written language do what it was meant to do, which is to communicate. And whether you like to read or you don’t, you kinda have to. Whether it’s War and Peace or a stop sign, you gotta know how to read.
But before you can read it, someone has to write it down.
You can always leave any questions in the comments or email us.
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