The Writer’s Guild of America announced that as of 12:01 a.m. this morning, it’s on strike. In a message sent to members last night, the WGA said that “the studios’ responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing.” The strike comes after the guild failed to reach an agreement on a new film and scripted TV contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
In a public statement, the WGA said the strike was authorized by a unanimous vote of the WGA Negotiating Committee, the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America West, and the Council of the Writers Guild of America East. The vote comes after six weeks of negotiation. The guild said that picketing will begin this afternoon in places like Netflix’s Hollywood offices, CBS TV City, Disney, Universal, and the Peacock NewFront on Fifth Avenue in New York City, with the first pickets going up at 4 p.m. Eastern Time today.
It's the first writer’s strike since 2007, a walkout that lasted for 100 days. The guild is asking for an overhaul in the formulas used to calculate compensation and residuals, greater protections for its members’ over-scale payments, and more.
What does this mean? Late night shows are affected first and then "Saturday Night Live." If the writing wasn't finished for Saturday's show with host Pete Davidson, then it should be interesting to see what they do.