www.cnn.com – 2023-05-02 04:25:00
New York
CNN
—
More than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are set to go on strike Tuesday morning for the first time since 2007, a move that could bring an immediate halt to the production of many television shows and possibly delay the start of new seasons of others later this year.
“Though we negotiated intent on making a fair deal … the studios’ responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing,” said a statement from the union leadership.
“They have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.”
While union members would be on strike as of 3 am EDT Tuesday, the WGA tweeted that it would not set up picket lines until Tuesday afternoon.
The studios, which disclosed that the talks ended late Monday just hours before the strike deadline without an agreement, responded by saying it was willing to improve on its offer but was not willing to meet some of the union’s demands.
“The primary sticking points are ‘mandatory staffing,’ and ‘duration of employment’ — Guild proposals that would require a company to staff a show with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or not,” said the statement from management’s negotiating committee.
“Member companies remain united in their desire to reach a deal that is mutually beneficial to writers and the health and longevity of the industry, and to avoid hardship to the thousands of employees who depend upon the industry for their livelihoods.”
The distance between the two sides suggested this could be the start of a long strike. The last strike that started in November 2007 stretched 100 days into February of 2008.
Many shows on cable and broadcast networks have already filmed their final episodes for the current season, but viewers could see an impact with late night shows, daytime soap operas and shows such as “Saturday Night Live,” which could have early ends to their seasons.
Show host Seth Meyers, who was on the picket line as a writer at SNL during the last strike, prepared his viewers that Late Night with Seth Meyers won’t be on the air if there is a strike. Other shows likely to be immediately impacted did not immediately respond to requests for comments about their plans.
The strike comes at a time when both sides say they are feeling financial pain.
Many of the media and tech companies producing shows that use the writers have seen drops in their stock price, prompting deep cost cutting, including layoffs.
Management’s side of negotiations is represented by the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television…
