Based on today’s bulletin – the third this month – the WGA is not seeking a mere adjustment in the way writers are paid but a complete overhaul of the pay scales it had bargained for with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers in recent years.WGA Says “Writers Have Fallen Behind” As Film & TV Industry “Remains Highly Profitable”
For feature film writers, the guild said, the collapse of the DVD market “drove the studios to focus on tentpole features, depressing employment for screenwriters in the period 2008 to 2015. Streaming has increased demand for feature-length films, with movies now a key part of streamers’ original content lineup, but the variety of release strategies has created uncertainty about the contract terms applicable to writers on these projects.
For screenwriters, compensation has “stagnated over the past four years,” the guild said. “Their pay is often stretched out over many months and can be held hostage by producers’ demands for free work.” This is particularly the case for screenwriters working at or near the guild’s minimums. These conditions are untenable.”
The guild said that “more than 40% of showrunners working on streaming series reported working for over 52 weeks on their most recent season.”