The Writers Guild of America strike that began on May 2nd is the second I’ve experienced* since moving to Los Angeles. The last one lasted just over three months, from November 2007 to February of 2008, but the current strike might be as long and traumatic as the 1988 strike, which lasted five months.
When I arrived in July of 1989, the 1988 strike had been over for eleven months, but its economic effects were still rippling through Los Angeles. Writers lost their homes, and some quit the business. Some moved away. Their suffering spread through local economy, as caterers, restaurant owners, dry cleaners, hair stylists and others who depended on film and television production went out of business. The national effects were notable. The strike delayed the start of the television season, killed off a slew of less successful shows (and at least one successful one—“Moonlighting”) and ushered in the beginning of reality TV (with “Cops”). While the networks got a boost from the Olympics and other sports programming, 1988 was a long slog of reruns and no late night TV. The cost in today’s dollars: $1.259 billion.
Reality TV was flourishing when the next strike began in November of 2007. A major beneficiary was Donald Trump, whose “Celebrity Apprentice” debuted on January 3rd, 2008. (The series, which ran until 2017, was co-produced by Trump and Mark Burnett, whose other reality shows—”Survivor” and “The Apprentice”—also raked in huge profits.) Studios and networks used the strike to clean house, firing production assistants and writer’s assistants who might otherwise have become writers and show runners. Though shorter than the 1988 strike, the cost of the 2007-2008 strike was greater: $2.1 billion in today’s dollars.
Which brings us to the present strike, cost unknown. Driving along Olive Avenue in Burbank on May 5, I passed impressive picket lines at each of Warner’s Brothers’ entrances. Some of the signs bore messages: “I’m Poor”, read one. “I Was Told There Would Be No Math”, read another. Under a giant “ER” poster proclaiming “WB 100 Celebrating Every Story”, a line of WGA West members marched for an equitable share of profits. I honked my horn in support. So did other drivers.
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Like its predecessors, the 2023 strike is about pay. It’s also about the massive changes brought about by streaming, which was in its infancy in 2008. The tiny number of shows that now constitute a season on streamers—as few as six episodes—are a far cry from the twenty-four episodes in a season of “Friends”. Beyond their lagging pay, writers now have to job hunt constantly. Cobbling a full-time job from bits and pieces is impossible, so writers are seeking security as well as higher pay. AI, which didn’t pose a threat until this year, is another issue.
As in strikes past, writers walk the picket line while networks and studios bluff about having enough in the can to weather months without new scripts. (The rise of reality TV would indicate otherwise.) In a contrarian twist to the usual writers-are-replaceable attitude, management is also denying that AI poses a threat.
Meanwhile in Burbank, Warner Brothers is cracking down on public shows of support. When I drove down Olive Avenue the other day, a new street sign flashed: “Excessive Horn Use Violates 27001 CVC”. Whether police will issue tickets remains to be seen.
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*I am not a WGA member