Satvika Nitya/Arts and Culture Editor

This past Sunday, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios to end the second-longest strike by the WGA in history, lasting for a total of 146 days. This deal not only ensures higher compensations and protections for writers but also raises hopes for the entertainment industry to come out from its current media and filming shutdown. The WGA released a statement along with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) announcing the three- year contract deal. The strike will officially end and writers will go back to work once the agreement is approved and signed by the guild’s board member from both the east and west branches as well as the guild’s 11,500 members but picketing was suspended immediately. Though the terms of the deal are still not released, a surge of positivity has been seen both through a boost in entertainment companies’ shares as well as a breath of relief for all students who want to break into the industry. The reason why the WGA, which is a labor union that aims to protect the creative and economic rights of writers went on strike for the first time since 2007 is to demand an increase in pay for writers. They also want greater protections in the wake of AI and rightful compensation for streaming residuals, which are long-term payments for reruns and other airings after initial release to those who worked on media like film and TV.

On May 2, the existing contract between the WGA and AMPTP — which includes Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros., Discovery, NBC Universal, Paramount, Sony, Amazon and Apple — came to an end at 12 a.m. without a new, ratified contract. The WGA was in the process of negotiating with AMPTP but after the latter did not meet the WGA’s demands, AMPTP released a statement saying that negotiations with WGA had concluded without an agreement.

The statement also said that a “comprehensive package” was proposed to the Guild but “sticking points” like “mandatory staffing” and “duration of employment” that WGA requested were a point of contention leading to a failure of agreement. This kicked off the WGA labor union walkout, with thousands of people taking to the streets with signs and placards, opting out of working on any form of media.

The writers’ demands arose from the fact that the previous contract was created long before streaming services and media had a boom. The way that content is viewed today has changed drastically from the times of television and movie theaters and the list of demands from the WGA is asking to adapt to these new conditions according to Variety magazine.

One of the WGA’s biggest asks is that writers be adequately compensated for every platform that their work is being presented on. Writers are very minimally compensated or sometimes not compensated at all when a show or movie that they worked on for a network or production house is moved to a streaming platform, and this leads to devaluation of their work and robs writers of credit.

USD sophomore and Visual-Arts student Kali Marin, who wants to go into the film industry, talks about her feelings toward the writer’s strike and how it will impact students who are studying to enter the field.

“This can definitely heavily affect students coming out of university hoping to enter the field,” Marin said. “It’s always been competitive in the writer’s room, but the outcome and reward of working that hard is now not as significant as it used to be, because you’re barely able to make a living wage out of it. What the WGA is asking for is the bare minimum. And the thing I’m worried about is that in the process of fighting for the money that I’m owed for the work I’m doing, I’ll lose my passion for my work itself.”

The issues that this strike represents not only impact newly graduating seniors from college who want to break into the field of screenwriting and entertainment — but also heavily impact audiences who, if the strike continued, would be starved of media content. 

Writers are also fighting for a better solution to the exploitive use of “mini-rooms,” which are small groups of writers that are faced with unrealistically heavy deadlines to produce huge amounts of scripts for a show’s potential first season, prior to production as per the WGA. This pre-writing process poses an obstacle to writers in terms of structuring their work contact and getting paid for work they’re doing before the show starts. 

This problem is also accompanied by the threat of AI replacing writers on sets, another topic that the WGA is demanding protection from.

Over the past five months of the strike, many WGA proposals have been rejected. However, starting last Wednesday, studio heads and representatives of the WGA met for five consecutive days of negotiations with major studio heads of companies like Disney and Netflix present, and concluded with a potential deal on Sunday.

Along with writers, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Arts (SAG-AFTRA) also joined the strike in July, seeking protection against the utilization of AI and its ability to clone faces in media and better compensation due to the rise of streaming services. Actors are also plagued by the same threats as the writers, with many actors making only a few cents as residuals.

Big names like Tina Fey, Pete Davidson, Jack Black, Seth Meyers and many more have joined actors on the picket line, showing overt support for their cause. However, this was met with criticism from the audience who said that these actors make enough money and have no reason to march for more.

USD senior Naarah-Moriah Addae who is graduating as a theater major and wants to act in the future talked about her reaction toward the SAG-AFTRA strikes and this criticism.

“Most people don’t realize that it is 1% of actors that make it big time, and everyone else barely makes a living wage, and these big names are there to support the smaller cause, not ask for money for themselves,”  Addae said. “I was really anxious to go into this field before the writer’s strike anyway because of the uncertainty that comes with it. But now, even though I agree with the cause, people are out of jobs because of it and it’s making an already hard field ten times harder.”

According to AP News, SAG-AFTRA has not struck a deal and actors are still on strike with no set dates for negotiation. But the news of the deal with writers might help them with resolution, too. 

Hollywood felt the impact of the strike immediately, as many late-night shows, movies and TV productions came to a halt because of the lack of writers. Filming schedules were falling behind, students were losing internships at writing firms and ultimately, the entire business model of the entertainment industry was at risk. 

The deal with the writers only wins half the battle, because the actors needed to continue filming will still be on strike. 

However, there are some independent films that have agreed to both WGA and SAG-AFTRA contracts and have been given waivers to continue production, a decision that has brought up the critique that allowing certain companies to continue production before all big studios agree to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA contracts nullifies the point of the strike. USD exchange student Zoe Clifford-Sellam gave her opinion on this topic.

“I don’t think it nullifies the point, because the point of the strike is to help writers and actors get to a place where they can receive good wage,” Clifford-Sellam said. “Writers and actors are losing work and money because of this strike and if the point is to uplift them and there are studios accepting to those terms, then definitely the writers and actors should go and take up jobs. We need to reframe the way we’re looking at this. These independent companies should be looked at as examples for bigger corporations, as to what they can adapt to be.”

The WAG and SAG-AFTRA strikes are crucial for the entertainment industry, their impact being felt by current actors and writers. The result of the writers’ strike has proven to be successful, giving hope to graduating or recently graduated students who are trying to enter the field. 

However, the circle is not complete without the negotiations with SAG-AFTRA.