By Nicholas Jimenez
Writers should get an increase in pay because of the mass production of TV shows and movies that are premiering on streaming services.
Writers Guild of America is on strike after their contract expired and streaming service writer’s request for an increase in wages was denied.
A total of 95% of the streaming service writers have gone on strike. Because of the strike many productions of movies and TV shows have been halted.
Saturday Night Live was put on hold on May 6 after writers for NBC went on strike.
This is the fourth time that WGA has had to strike.
What the studios are doing to the writers, having them work once a week, makes it difficult for ideas to flow in such a short period of time.
The first strike in 1960 was caused by the writers wanting a portion of the profits when a movie was shown on TV.
Another writers’ strike happened on Nov. 7, 2007 because the writers felt underpaid and were unable to reach an agreement during their negotiations.
The 2007 strike also had many shows either cancel their next showings or put the show on a standstill.
SNL began showing reruns on Nov. 10, 2007 and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno began showing reruns on Nov. 5, 2007.
Now, the writers feel they should get paid more because of only being able to work on streaming services once a week.
Another reason for the strike is that the writers go into a writing room for such a short amount of time during the day to create a script for an upcoming show or movie.
The writers feel it’s unfair because it doesn’t allow them to become showrunners.
Any young writer trying to work on a big time show or movie is being rushed to finish a script.
They are not allowed to get the ins and outs of the industry. Also, the young writers aren’t allowed to know what it’s like to bust sets or do any editing during this time.
Because of this, the producers are pushing to make sure that the writers are being taught along the way while working on a show or movie.
Actors and people in the entertainment industry came out and supported the writers during the strike. Jay Leno joined one of the strikes outside of Disney Studios. He gave out donuts to the writers on the picket line.
Pete Davidson also handed out food to the writers that were protesting in New York. Ben Schwartz was protesting with the writers last Thursday.
Due to the strike many studios are thinking of having artificial intelligence create scripts for future movies and shows.
This idea is not a good one because the writers may feel like the studios are trying to remove humans from the writing rooms and replacing them with AI instead. If any studios do this the backlash from the writers could be fierce.
There could possibly be clauses that will be in place when a contract is finally agreed on.
For now, new shows and movies may be released that were finished months before the strike. It could be a while before viewers experience a lack of new shows.