As has been feared for many weeks, we’ve now seen the WGA move directly into strike action as it failed to seal a deal with major Hollywood players for its members. What does this mean for the industry as a whole? And with an industry-wide shutdown in written content on the cards, are their ethical opportunities still available in the industry during the strike period? Entertainment attorney Brandon Blake, from Blake & Wang P.A, weighs in on the state of the industry for those caught between a need to work and a wish to support the WGA’s right to strike.
The Writer Walk-Out
With a deal unratified by the May 1st deadline, we are now technically entering the second week of the first WGA writer’s strike in 15 years. With a set of very real- and sticky- issues on the table in an industry that’s changed dramatically in that same period, the move to strike action is more than understandable.
However, unlike the 2007 writer’s strike, the timing is not in the WGA’s favor, with most scripted series currently wrapping up their latest seasons. The Late Night shows most in danger of immediately losing support are waning in popularity as it is. The effects of the pandemic are still rattling through Hollywood in general, and with it comes more knowledge in how to survive content downturns. And the wealth of alternative entertainment sources (especially social media and ‘unpaid’ content creation) has ballooned. Studios are already confidently eying a three to four month blackout on scripted fare without much worry. Allegations that a ‘gig economy’ has already been ‘created inside a union workforce’ may well be truer than it should be.
For film production, there may well be little impact felt for months to come, although TV will take the slowdown harder. With the AMPTP and WGA so far from any sort of deal, however, we may well be facing a long period of strike action ahead. For smaller players in the industry, that always raises difficult questions.
Respecting the Strike While Making a Living
While the WGA is, of course, focused primarily on their stable of member writers, let’s not downplay the need to address the shifting production environment for the less visible sides of the industry. While writers are generally considered above-the-line workers, many of their concerns echo strongly for below-the-line workers too. Streaming and the changing content industry has evolved at a rapid pace, with many workers not always seeing the compensation they’re due. We’ve even seen A-list talent fighting for similar industry change of late. As always when new technology and means of getting things done arrive, the need for fair adaptation is clear. And sometimes that means strike action will occur to get it. Worthy? Yes. But it can be difficult to navigate for those who need to stay working through the period of industrial turmoil.
However, with the shifting focus of the streaming industry already in play, that doesn’t mean a strike authorization will come down to either struck work or no work. It’s important at this time, as the WGA handles its contract negotiations, to remember that a lot of media work falls outside of the strike action. A boom in interest in foreign content, for example, offers a wealth of opportunity to keep projects coming to fruition for smaller and independent production entities without crossing the picket line. Likewise, both independent features and reality programming can offer potentially lucrative areas to work within while we await the final resolution. Multihyphenates may also continue non-writing based work.
While the ramifications of the strike can be both intimidating and lengthy, for now it’s important to keep a focus on the positives- and nothing is better at that than the indie industry as a whole.
