The quality of media and television has gone down significantly since July, when SAG-AFTRA strikes began. If you haven’t been keeping up with SAG-AFTRA, the strikes are about writers and actors on strike against the union for low wages, AI and streaming format complications.
Though light has not been shed on the struggles of the writers who are currently on strike. Screenwriters, authors, video game writers, etc. have been struggling with low pay rates for ages; these conditions have worsened with the inflation that has currently been arising and the changes going on in the entertainment industry. This also means that studios have had more expenses and are unable to pay as many employees. Which entails a lack of diversity in the writing room, low-quality writing, then cringy scripts and plots.
One of these large changes in TV media is the streaming platform. There are two types of TV: networking and streaming.
Networking is a show with 22 episodes per season that has commercial breaks and begins streaming in September. Shows like: “Friends”, “Gilmore Girls”, and “H2O: Just add water.”
Streaming is a show with 8 episodes per season and no commercial breaks, it also allows the viewer to watch without commercial breaks. Like, “Wandavision”, “Stranger Things”, and “The Queen’s Gambit.”
Streaming allows large streaming companies like Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Hulu, and Paramount to put out projects at a faster pace of 500 streaming projects a year rather than 80 with networking, and at a cheaper price. This cheap price is achieved by the reduced time and money given to the writers, and oftentimes actors.
In networking, writers work approximately 40 weeks on a project, all the while having a stable pay per episode; they also receive residuals which are checks sent to writers for every time the project is streamed. This differs from streaming where writers have 8-10 weeks of guaranteed work or 20 weeks(if they are lucky), while also receiving little to no residual checks.
For example, a show airs an episode and the writer receives $500 for their work; in networking the writer would receive a check for every time the episode is streamed. If the show is streaming, the writer receives $500 for their work and a check when the episode streams the first time, that’s it. This would mean that the writers have to find many projects to work on during the year for them to have any sort of stable pay.
There has also been the topic of AI being used in writing rooms and having a chance at taking over the job. Many have been focusing on this topic and what it could mean for many occupations in the artistic industry. AI chatbots such as Character AI or Chat GPT. can write stories and art AI such as WOMBO dream or Leap AI. It has come to question how necessary large numbers of writers or artists are truly necessary.
After 146 days on strike, a deal (via contract) was finally reached on September 24, for writers only.
The contract has yet to be shown to the public, but it has been summarized by WGA. The terms of the agreement, based on the WGA summary, are that writers will receive an increase to minimum wage and compensation, increased pension and health fund rates, improvements to the length of employment, increase size of writing teams (which as mentioned earlier had been shrinking recently), and improved residuals, including foreign streaming residuals.
The union has also agreed to make certain rules regarding AI, quoted directly from the summary of the WGA MBA,
”AI can’t write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material will not be considered source material under the MBA, meaning that AI-generated material can’t be used to undermine a writer’s credit or separated rights. A writer can choose to use AI when performing writing services, if the company consents and provided that the writer follows applicable company policies, but the company can’t require the writer to use AI software (e.g., ChatGPT) when performing writing services. The Company must disclose to the writer if any materials given to the writer have been generated by AI or incorporate AI-generated material. The WGA reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law.”
The whole summary is available through WAG MBA’s website, at https://shorturl.at/iQRV7.
With the end of the writers’ strikes, many projects have started up again. However, these projects will only be going through writing stages due to the unfortunate fact that actors continue to strike. There will still be delays on projects until the actor strikes end.
Luckily with the end of writers’ strikes, there will be a 4% higher demand for writing occupancies and kinder pay. So, if it is in your dreams to write, you’ll have more opportunities and accommodations due to the past strikes.
