2023 Writer's Strike

[Dave Gray]

This one seems pretty cut and dry.  I'm with the writers on this one.

I hope it doesn't last long, because no writers makes for a year down the line of really shitty TV. 

But looking at the demands, nothing is crazy.  All those old deals were centered around reruns and DVD sales for backend and it's all streaming now.  These guys aren't getting paid for their work as the technology has changed.

Also, TV shows aren't 22 episodes anymore, so there's about half as much paid out for the same number of shows.  It's just a different animal, so renegotiating seems obvious.

I hope they get it figured soon.

I'm especially worried about shows that are written but not yet filmed.  Andor (which is one of the best shows of the last 10 years) has season 2 written, but you really need writers on set to keep a production working.  You never film the script because stuff comes up and you have to modify things in the moment to get the best product.  But without writers, those changes either won't be made or you'll have rewrites done on set by directors.   It will result in a worse product and that sucks.

[Fau Teixeira]

I doubt the other unions will cross those picket lines regardless.

[Phishfan]

It's not right to not keep up with the new technology. I don't understand your half the pay comment Dave. Can you please explain?

[Dave Gray]

^ Sure.

The standard for TV show writer's rooms were hour-long 22 episode seasons.  This is how shows were ordered.  Star Trek, NCIS, X-Files, etc.

These were predictable, ordered in advance, were renewed for specific times of year.  It was the model.



Now, shows don't do that on streaming.  You don't have 22 episode seasons.  Stranger Things had 9 episodes a season, thereabouts.   House of the Dragon had 7.  The Last of Us had 9.

On and on and on.  These huge shows that are making all the money are doing it in short spurts with big numbers, but not with long spurts that are being replayed over and over again.  So, if the model is based on number of episodes, which was understandable for the previous model, to keep that same payment structure cuts the salary in half for the writers, while the network still gets rich off the product.