The current agreement between the Writer's Guild of America and American studios expires on May 1st. The economic ecosystem of streaming platforms will be the central theme of the next discussions between the two parties, and the writers' union is preparing for a daunting battle with the studios which could, if negotiations fail, lead to the first strike. mass of screenwriters in Hollywood for fifteen years.
Double trigger
The bosses of studios and platforms are terrified of the idea of a strike which would paralyze a sector already in crisis and would put many people out of work. Especially since they must also renegotiate their contracts with the unions of directors and actors, which expire on June 1 and which are also threatening to strike if their demands are not taken into account.
Paid by the number of broadcasts
All creatives really want the same thing, that streaming platforms adopt a financial model similar to the old model, which allowed them to earn money according to the number of TV broadcasts of their creations . Marc Guggenheim, executive producer of Arrow and DC's Legends of Tomorrow, summarizes the situation as follows: “The challenge of this negotiation is very simple: to give screenwriters the possibility of earning a living through their work. It's as simple as that. It's about whether being a full-time series writer is still a viable career”.
The 2007/2008 writers' strike shut down Hollywood for three months, and no one wants that to happen again. Source: Variety
