Less than a week before negotiations with major studios begin, Writers of Guild America leaders are already making arguments for why writers deserve better wages.
In an interview with The Times, the guild’s top negotiators claim that many WGA members are struggling with a steady decline in revenue, even as content has increased in the streaming era. Despite the uncertainties they face, studios can afford to pay writers more as new distribution models emerge, they say.
To back up its claims, the guild released a report on Tuesday showing that the average wage for writers has fallen over the past decade, a sign of how both sides are laying out their positions ahead of what is likely to be contentious negotiations over a deal. . to replace it. – Annual contract until 1.5.
“The economic challenges facing writers are getting bigger and becoming existential,” Chris Keyser, co-chair of the negotiating committee, said in a lengthy interview with The Times.
Joining the “Party of Five” and “Julia” author were co-chair of the negotiations David Goodman, a former guild president and “Family Guy” author; and the union’s chief negotiator, Ellen Stutzman, who replaces veteran leader David Young, who recently resigned on sick leave.
A spokesperson for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers declined to comment.
The interview has been shortened for clarity.
How do you see the upcoming negotiations?
good man: The support of our members is very strong as we try to address issues that affect our members. From a company point of view, we can’t really predict what they’ll do.
What is it about this cycle that so many people fear a strike?
Keyser: The shift to the streaming model has devalued authors’ work in ways we’ve never seen before, giving us an agenda that is central to authors’ economic survival. So we know that what is happening here is very important. How others react to it is up to them; we’ll know in a week.
We live in a world where 50% of writers have at least an MBA degree [the minimum level of pay set in the contract between writers and studios] At least 24 percent of showrunners work. They work at the lowest level stipulated in the contract: either they work too few weeks with undue pressure on them to produce, or too many weeks without their salary increasing.
There is no ladder of success in business, there is no copper ring at the end. While companies are making billions of dollars and spending more and more on streaming, writers are making less and less. It’s unbearable. It’s not sustainable.
What are your top priorities in the negotiations?
good man: Compensation applies to all sectors of our membership – feature film writers, comedy/variety writers, television program episode writers, from top to bottom. So our priority is to address the compensation of all these people in this new model that companies have decided will be the model they will pursue. It’s not one or two problems. This is how writers earn their living in all sectors of the economy.
Studios are laying off employees and cutting expenses. Is it harder for you to meet your salary targets?
Keyser: There is no doubt that they strive for a better result. They seek profit wherever they can find it. They’d like to make that profit by lowering the amount of money they pay authors, but ultimately that’s not right. There’s never a good time, right? Studios never say, “Oh, thank goodness you came this year, because this year we can afford it.” It never happens.
They continue to spend huge amounts of money on the things we write first and then earn: $19 billion they plan to spend on streaming this year. So you spend a lot of money. They spend it because they know there will be a slew of winners in the global streaming business, making companies immensely rich.
There is a divorce and we must end this divorce. Writers are just as valuable as they were before the streaming model and should be paid that way.
Stutzmann: We look at the industry over a very long period of time and see how prosperous and profitable it has been. The content that writers and others create in this city is of immense value. The companies have earned this global success and will continue to do so. It is not the authors’ job to pay for the poor decision-making of companies that opt for costly mergers or take on large debts. These are short term things that will change and we need to negotiate a contract that will last for decades.
Could it mean less work for writers if you increase salaries?
Stutzmann: What we want to get out of these negotiations is to make sure that there is a future and a career for writers and that there are enough jobs for the amount of work. That writers stay close and have enough time to get the job done rather than being crammed into as few weeks as possible, and that they are paid fairly. We are concerned about protecting this career and writers’ ability to work.
good man: I don’t think we can honestly predict how companies will respond, but we can probably tick a box so that the number of jobs doesn’t shrink and those jobs pay well.
Keyser: I have been in the business for over 30 years. I did shows decades ago where the company spent a lot less, where a studio needed 100 episodes to make sure they got their money back, where we were all paid fairly and had much smaller budgets. Now the budgets are a lot bigger, they spend a lot more money, the risks are a lot lower. We ask for more money. Is it possible for them to answer us and say, “Okay, we’re not hiring you?” I think they can; it would be an irrational business decision. But now they can. Nobody tells them how many writers to hire, we can’t.
Can an agreement be reached without a strike?
good man: It’s really up to the companies to decide. We present our agenda, we present what we need, and we present the strength of our union, which I believe has never been stronger. I’ve been in the guild since 1988 and I don’t think there’s been a time when membership felt so strong and companies understand that. Companies will try to get the cheapest offer. They will try to pay us as little as possible. And the question is, how much influence do we have as a union to prevent them from paying us our living wage? It comes out in the negotiations. And again, I’ve been to five of them. And every time it is a surprise where we end up.
What efforts are you making to coordinate with the other unions negotiating contracts this year?
good man: We have had discussions with the (Directors Guild of America) and (SAG-AFTRA). Their membership also has compensation issues. Whether we actually negotiate together is another matter and we are not prepared for that. But it seems that for the first time in a long time there is at least open communication and some common interests. The problems we have [the WGA] talk is rather author-oriented. We always hope that in the future these three unions can work together and work on it together. And I definitely feel support from them that we didn’t have before.
Source: LA Times