Julia Stoll
Research expert covering TV and video media
One of the longest work stoppages of writers and actors in Hollywood bringing the U.S. TV and movie industry to a near complete halt ended between September and November 2023. After 148 and 118 days respectively, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), as well as the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) reached agreements on contracts with the studios. But what happened? On May 2, 2023, the WGA officially went on strike following ongoing labor disputes with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the first of this scale since the 2007-2008 strike. The SAG-AFTRA joined the movement roughly two months later, consequently launching the first joint strike since 1960. The main sticking points in the strikes appeared to be residuals and minimum earnings from streaming services, as well as an increased regulation of generative AI.
Payment demands
While the top-earning Hollywood executive, Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO David Zaslav, was paid almost half a billion U.S. dollars within a five-year period, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA members were proposing a fair minimum wage. Both writers and actors suffered from changed production methods, as even though spending on content has increased in the last few years and more TV shows have been released than ever before, the episodes-per-season output declined in the streaming era. This resulted in lower employment periods for writers and producers on a streaming series than on broadcast TV shows. The approved contract between the writers and studios from September 2023 took this into account and not only included a minimum number of writers for TV shows, but also a minimum period of working weeks. Following the criticism of the WGA that the share of writers and producers working at the minimum agreed wage had increased within a decade, the new agreement set higher payments, particularly for shows that have not established a minimum salary yet. Meanwhile, performers and background actors will receive the largest wage growth in the last 40 years. Furthermore, the unions’ demand of transparent streaming viewership figures was given special consideration and from now on, residuals and streaming bonuses are paid based on number of viewers and streaming hours.Role of AI
The role of artificial intelligence and the lack of safeguards surrounding its use in the TV and film industry has been a major point of contention for roughly one third of entertainment-industry professionals. The new contracts do not only include the screenwriter’s wariness towards the use of AI when it comes to scriptwriting, but also the actors’ concern about their likeness or voices being reproduced. In future, studios are not allowed to demand the usage of AI tools for a script. The tentative deal between actors and production companies, on the other hand, considers a mandatory consent of digital replicas from actors as well as monetary compensation.Impact on TV and film economy
The writers’ and actors’ walkouts have caused shutdowns and delays of several productions, such as Batman spinoff “The Penguin,” the final season of “Stranger Things,” and every upcoming Marvel film. Filming permits in New York City, for example, dropped by over 500 in July 2023, when actors joined the movement, compared with the same month of the previous year. These interruptions in film productions already had a profound and negative influence on Hollywood’s economy, from which Disney has suffered the most among the studios. Moreover, the new contracts will likely result in growing content costs, which in turn might lead to further price increases for streaming platforms, as well as further subscription cancellations and shifts.
