One thing about the WGA Strike is that Onion article was kinda right. Hollywood shot themselves in the foot with their current standard of cancelling every show people like to produce more and more short-term novelty.

It’s not like we have tons of shows ending on cliffhangers waiting for season six anymore. Due to their greed, they’ve personally taken long-term viewer investment outside and shot it and now they can’t count on it for negotiating power. What are viewers going to be mad about missing out on? The Twilight reboot? Another Star Wars spin-off? Several promising pilot seasons on Netflix with great representation that were already produced and cancelled before they aired and would’ve been even if the strike hadn’t happened?

The WGA has two main stipulations. First, the guild wants to make sure that “literary material” — the MBA term for screenplays, teleplays, outlines, treatments, and other things that people write — can’t be generated by an AI. In other words, ChatGPT and its cousins can’t be credited with writing a screenplay. If a movie made by a studio that has an agreement with the WGA has a writing credit — and that’s over 350 of America’s major studios and production companies — then the writer needs to be a person.

“Based on what we’re aiming for in this contract, there couldn’t be a movie that was released by a company that we work with that had no writer,” says August.

Second, the WGA says it’s imperative that “source material” can’t be something generated by an AI, either. This is especially important because studios frequently hire writers to adapt source material (like a novel, an article, or other IP) into new work to be produced as TV or films. However, the payment terms, particularly residual payouts, are different for an adaptation than for “literary material.” It’s very easy to imagine a situation in which a studio uses AI to generate ideas or drafts, claims those ideas are “source material,” and hires a writer to polish it up for a lower rate. “We believe that is not source material, any more than a Wikipedia article is source material,” says August. “That’s the crux of what we’re negotiating.”

In negotiations prior to the strike, the AMPTP refused the WGA’s demands around AI, instead countering with “annual meetings to discuss advancements in technology.”

The looming threat of AI to Hollywood, and why it should matter to you by Alissa Wilkinson

Hollywood Writers Strike: Official Sources

The Writer's Guild of America has voted to strike, and I want to get out ahead of something Tumblr is bad about doing and encourage y'all to PLEASE get your information about the strike from the guild itself, not from random people on Tumblr telling you it's "actually" about this or that.

The WGA wants the public to understand why they are striking. They have plenty of info available that is written with a general audience in mind.

WGA.org is the official website of the Writer's Guild of America West.

WGAwest is on Twitter and posting extensively about the negotiations and strike. This account is linked from the WGA website.

WGA also has a Linktree (linked from their Twitter bio) with more information about the strike, including their own Twitter threads about various strike issues, as well as articles in the media.

WGA Contract 2023 is a website full of information about the strike. It is one of the first links in the Linktree above. It's a great resource if you want to get deeper into the subject. There is a FAQ.

Any third party explaining the issue for you has an opportunity to, intentionally or not, insert their own spin or agenda. Get the information from the source.

https://www.wgacontract2023.org/

Don't let the support on social media die out. They're still going strong and consistent for this strike and we should stand consistently behind them.

Here's how to help support those making your shows!

Creatives on Strike (WGA + SAG-AFTRA)

Now that SAG-AFTRA is officially joining the WGA on the picket lines, many of your favorite shows and films you're looking forward to that were already facing major delays will now face even longer delays.

Don't blame the writers or the actors. Blame the studios for refusing to compensate them fairly. I've spoken a bit about what studios are trying to do to the profession of screenwriting in my last post about the WGA strike, but I'll be focusing on acting in this one. 

It's easy to see the headlines about actors striking and go "Why are the actors striking? What the hell are they complaining about? They're all millionaires. They don't need more money!". And if SAG-AFTRA was an exclusive cool kid's club with only A-Listers amongst their ranks, maybe there's a point there. But it's not and there isn't.

There are countless working actors in SAG-AFTRA either making an honest living or living paycheck to paycheck like so many in the country are right now. Over the past few years, I've gotten to know and work with some incredibly talented actors, and even dabble in some acting myself. It's not easy work and they deserve to be fully compensated for it, whether their famous or not. And the working actors just trying to make a living like everyone else deserves it the most.

While writers are the backbone of film and television, creating worlds and characters through treatments and scripts, actors help tell those stories by bringing those characters to life through their performances. With no script or actors, you got nothing.

While I'm not a member of either guild, as an aspiring writer who does some acting every now and then, I stand with both 100%. Writers and Actors deserve to be properly compensated for their work. 

Please show your support for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA on strike! 

Solidarity forever.

Read more about the SAG-AFTRA strike here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sag-aftra-strike-what-know-actors-writers-wga-rcna94075

Like and reblog this picture of Fran Drescher to end the joint WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike in the strikers' favor

We're so back yall

Crisis: a perspective

The news that AMPTP has hired The Levinson Group isn't exactly a surprise. The PR agency is, after all, a top firm in crisis management, as many articles related. However, it is telling that what the AMPTP considers a crisis is their image and not workers being unable to pay their rents, mortgages, or qualify for health insurance among other things.

You want to know what makes for a good image? Being a good listener. Being compassionate. Seeing humans as humans and treating them that way. Recognizing that labor needs safe working conditions and fair wages. Cooperation comes before corporation in the dictionary and together, the artists and technicians working with studios have created magic for fans of their works. If a PR agency tries to convince the public that the WGA and the SAG-AFTRA members are the ones being uncooperative in their asks, I would suggest they consider that the public's perspective of what constitutes a crisis is a lot closer to what the strikers are facing than that for which the executives are hiring a spin doctor to heal.

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen's words on writers and AI

While they’re at it, television writers should refuse to work unless they have the certainty that the show will not be canceled out of the blue, but either a) they are given a minimum x number of seasons, no matter what, b) if the show gets canceled, they still get a number of episodes (a short extra season) to wrap up the story, c) both.

CR Cast on the WGA picket lines again

It’s particularly infuriating seeing people whine about the writers’ strike ruining their favorite shows and the fandom and whatnot. Dude, you have around 120+ years worth of movies, around 80+ years worth of TV and comic books, around 50+ years of video games, hundreds of years worth of board games, and about 8,000+ years worth of literature, all from the whole planet.

You’re going to be fine. 

If the sign is real, that's a brilliant strike strategy for writers.

Andy still out there standing up for what matters, even all these years later 💕

(credit to @whiteshipnightjar for the pics)