Writers’ Strike Against Hollywood, Averted
May 12, 2017
The relationship between Hollywood and writers has been strained lately, to say the least.
After threats of a strike from members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the Guild reached a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers with a preliminary three-year film and TV contract. The tentative agreement includes increases in pay, in the union’s employer-funded healthcare plan, and in streaming residuals, according to a letter from the WGA to its members. The agreement also includes, “for the first time ever,” job protection on parental leave.
“Did we get everything we wanted?” the negotiators wrote in the letter. “No. Everything we deserve? Certainly not. But because we had the near-unanimous backing of you and your fellow writers, we were able to achieve a deal that will net this guild’s members $130 million more, over the life of the contract, than the pattern we were expected to accept.”
Since negotiations began in March, WGA members had complained that the new trend toward shorter TV seasons—such as those on Amazon and Netflix—had affected their incomes, since their contracts had required them to work on only one series per season, The Los Angeles Times reported. The guild itself disclosed during negotiations that the health plan had been losing money and projected a $65 million deficit by 2020, according to Variety. Upset with the lost income, more than ninety-six percent of WGA’s members voted in favor of a strike on April 24 before this deal was reached.
The last time the WGA had a strike, it was for 100 days between November 5, 2007 and February 12, 2008, and resulted in widespread shutdowns of TV productions. The longest strike in the guild’s history was in 1988, and lasted 155 days.
Related news: WGA has released a statement condemning the FCC’s investigation of Stephen Colbert’s joke regarding President Donald Trump during the host’s Late Show on May 1, Deadline reports.
Image Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times.