WGA Writers Speak Out Against Studios, Execs in Picket Line
Just hours after the Writers Guild of America called for a strike, members started picketing in New York City.
The first picket took place at the Peacock NewFronts on 5th Ave., beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET. Over 100 writers and supports showed up within an hour, with that number swelling to approximately 200 as the day progressed. It was the only scheduled picket in NYC today, and had a lively turnout despite poor weather.
Chants included “No contract, no content. The workers united will never be defeated,” “Get up, get down, NY is a union town,” and “No money, no funny!”
Among the signs were several clever and pointed messages, including, “‘What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate’ was NOT written by a producer,” “What would Larry David do?,” “Pay nerds a fair wage,” “We are NOT in ‘Severance,'” “Pay your writers or we’ll spoil ‘Succession'” and many more.
“Dopesick” writer and creator Danny Strong spoke with Variety at the NewFronts picket line about why the strike is essential to the union.
“These issues are so profound and so important,” he said. “The entire media landscape has wildly changed because of streaming. These issues were issues we should have addressed three years ago, but because of the pandemic, the writers graciously agreed to not pursue it. In those three years, streaming has only taken up a bigger share of the market while the other ancillary distribution outlets have only gotten smaller and smaller. So the issue has blown up into a bigger and even more important one for writers to get a more fair share of streaming.”
Variety also spoke with Our Lady J, who received multiple Emmy nominations for her work on the groundbreaking FX series “Pose” and has also worked on shows like “American Horror Story” and “Transparent.” To her, the biggest issue is fairness in writers’ residual pay.
“It’s interesting that the CEOs and the executives at the streamers are telling stockholders that the future is in streaming and that they are a strong industry and worth investing in,” she said. “And yet they’re telling the Writers Guild the opposite, saying that they are unsure of the future of the industry, and therefore they cannot meet our requirements for fair residuals and due pay.”
Hilary Bettis, who has worked on shows like FX’s critically-acclaimed series “The Americans” and the Emmy-winning Hulu limited series “The Dropout,” attended the picket line in New York with her two small children in a stroller.
“This is the whole reason I’m here,” Bettis said of her kids. “I’m the reason that they have health insurance. I’m the reason that they have daycare. I’m the reason that they have a roof over their head and have food and all of it is because I’m a writer.”
“This isn’t a sustainable career,” she continued. “This is how I support my family. We deserve fair residuals. We deserve to be paid fairly for the rooms that we’re in. I’ve staffed on a lot of shows. I’ve developed a ton of pilots and still, from year to year, I just barely make my health insurance. I have to take on more than I have the bandwidth for just to get by.”
Picketing is expected to take place in Los Angeles at Radford, Universal Studios and Warner Bros.
Reporting by Jenny Maas and Joe Otterson.
Source: Variety
