Hollywood trembles for the strike: protesting screenwriters, risking billionaires

The last time it happened about fifteen years ago, between 2007 and 2008, and cost something like 2 billion dollars in losses to the Hollywood studios. And now the problem returns. The US screenwriters are again on strike, as announced by the WGA (Writers Guild of America) committee, because at the expiry of the category contract (dated 2017) there was no agreement on the renewal between the parties after almost two months of negotiation.

The scenario compared to the last strike has obviously changed: at the time it was asked to increase the benefits of screenwriters proportionally to the enormous revenues of the productions, this time the negotiation carried out also took place with new players, the platforms: «The negotiating committee of the WGA – reads the note signed by the representatives who led the negotiation – has spent the last six weeks negotiating with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony under the umbrella of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). During the negotiation, we explained how the commercial practices of these companies have drastically reduced our salaries and our royalties and, therefore, undermined our working conditions. We have made it clear that we are determined to strike a new contract with fair pay that reflects the value of our contribution to the industry’s success and includes protections to ensure that writing continues to be a sustainable profession.”

According to the American media, this strike will have an immediate impact on the most popular talk shows in the States, from Jimmy Kimmel Live to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, with progressive repercussions on hundreds of thousands of show business workers, blocking sets and productions. Also according to the WGA, in the last decade the average weekly salary of screenwriters has decreased by 4%, a percentage which rises considering inflation: but this is not the only problem, given that the question was also on the negotiating table linked to increases relating to the transfer of copyrights (a matter that should be reviewed considering the exploitation of works on platforms) and the strong concern – just as denounced by the Italian voice actors during the agitation of recent weeks – inherent to the artificial intelligence technologies that could pose a threat to the work of authors and screenwriters. The paralysis of the golden world of Hollywood is just around the corner.