Solidarity With Writers
Writer Guild of America
Offset, 2007
Los Angeles, CA
32534
CSPG’s Poster of the Week is from the 2007 Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. The 2007 work stoppage by television and film writers lasted 100 days and lost the industry over $2 billion. The landscape of the film and television industry has changed in the 15 years since the last strike, and WGA members and their supporters are again carrying posters and demanding change.
After several weeks of negotiations with major studios via the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the WGA announced Monday, May 1st that they were going on strike with a 98% strike authorization, breaking previous WGA records on strike votes and participation.
WGA’s negotiating committee published a list of demands which detailed how the production companies failed to properly compensate their writers in the shift from broadcast television to streaming subscription distribution. Between 2000 and 2020, studio profits grew from $5 billion to $30 billion; meanwhile writers’ incomes have decreased an average of 23% over the past decade.
Writers are facing an existential threat: the shift from broadcast television to
subscription-based streaming services has created a gig economy and writers are now earning a small fraction of what they used to make—and many have to take a second job to pay the rent. The process of writing a show pilot now involves paying writers minimally for a short turnaround, only for the slim chance of being selected as a main writer if the show is greenlit for production. These practices, coupled with the emergence of AI technology, threaten the jobs of workers in every industry.
Teamsters Local 399 have joined the strike in solidarity. SAG-AFTRA, the DGA, and IATSE have also issued statements supporting the WGA.
In honor of International Workers Day and in solidarity with workers everywhere, we support the WGA strike!
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