Cord Cutting Has Caused a Massive Writers Strike in Hollywood As Negotiations With Amazon, Disney+, Paramount+ & More Breakdown


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After weeks of talks, last night, the Writers Guild of America’s deadline for a new deal to avoid a strike came and went. Now the WGA has voted to strike leading to the first major strike since of the WGA since 2007. At issue here is how writers are paid for content on streaming services and how AI is used to write scripts. The last time there was a major writers’ strike was in 2007, and that strike lasted 100 days, delaying many fall TV shows that year.

Now that the WGA is on strike, production on many shows will stop including late-night talk shows.

As Americans cut the cord and stopped paying for traditional pay-TV services like cable TV, it has affected how writers are paid for shows. This has driven the Writers Guild of America to ask for a larger cut of shows that stream online.

Part of the issue with streaming is the fact that most of the shows there are shorter than the ones that air on broadcast TV. A typical streaming show may only have 8 to 10 episodes. This means writers get less money for working on a streaming show vs a broadcast TV network show that may have 22 episodes.

Streaming shows can also have longer breaks between seasons meaning writers are left without work as they wait for the service to approve or start filming a new season. When you put this all together, the Writers Guild of America says the median salary of a streaming show writer is 46% of what they would make on a broadcast show. They are hoping to close that gap as streaming is becoming a bigger part of TV today.

The Writer Guild of America is also asking for safeguards to help prevent studios from using artificial intelligence to replace writers. The fear is studios will use AI to create new scripts cutting writers out of a job. In the talks, writers are including a demand that they not be asked to rewrite draft scrips created by AI.

Now according to multiple reports the WGA has been unable to reach deals with major streaming services like Amazon, Disney+, Paramount+, and more about these concerns.

The last time the Writers Guild of America went on strike, TV networks used reruns and more reality shows to fill the void. Well, some shows are already finished and can be aired if there is a strike, many shows will have to stop production.

If this strike lasts, it could have a noticeable impact on the traditional fall TV schedule. However, streaming services may have an easier time dealing with the strike because of their access to content from outside the United States but this will delay many hit new shows.

Currently, 11:59 pm Pacific time tonight is the current deadline for a deal to be reached to avoid a strike. Negotiations have until then to extend the deadline or reach a deal to avoid a strike.

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