The 100-Day War, Or Rather, the First 100 Days of War
'If it takes 200 days, 300 days — we’re going to still be out here,' says one WGA writer
We’re officially 100 days into the Writers Guild of America strike of 2023.
At this stage of the work stoppage, The Bear writer Alex O’Keefe thought that the writers would be tired and broken.
“That’s what you usually expect with a strike. It’s a war of attrition,” he tells me from the Netflix picket line this afternoon. “Strikes are never easy, and by this point, membership is [usually] getting distrustful of leadership, distrustful of each other. This strike — it’s not like that.”
Instead, the Writers Guild, he posits, “has become the tip of the spear of the Los Angeles and the American labor movement and we all see ourselves not just as actors or writers or artists, but as workers, and as part of something much bigger, and as inspirations for the rest of the country.”
That echoes what USC professor and Hollywood historian Steven J. Ross told me a day ago, calling the historic double strike “the most radical of all the writers and actors strikes in the history of the industry.”
I made pit stops at three of the most popular picket sites on Day 100 — Warner Bros., Disney and Netflix — and while the crowds weren’t overwhelming, the mood was spirited.
At Warner Bros., a brass band played up and down Olive Ave. Further south at Netflix, a curbside DJ in a SAG-AFTRA shirt played a remix of what sounded like a speech from the union’s lead negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and chanted, “Honk honk, beep beep, Netflix is really cheap.” Supporters from a number of different IATSE locals were out in droves, from the Motion Pictures Costumer Guild to the chapter that represents writers assistants and script coordinators.
“I would’ve been out here sooner, but I didn’t get laid off until Friday,” says Shane Kenny drily, while holding a giant sign that reads “IATSE SUPPORTS WGA SAG AFTRA.” A third-generation member of Costumers Guild IATSE Local 705, he is out on the Disney picket line supporting his friends in the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, worrying about the same things they’re worried about: wealth inequity, AI, and so forth. He’s concerned about the upcoming IATSE contract negotiations next year, after a strike was narrowly averted in 2021.
“We’re affected by similar issues,” he says. “When they digitize the background, a lot of wardrobe work is background. That screws us over. We work with writers because the second the script changes, a character changes jackets — that affects us. So we are locked into the story beginning to end.”
Veteran scribe Michael Carrington, who has written for The Simpsons, Martin, The Jamie Foxx Show and That’s So Raven, is on his third strike in 35 years, starting with the 1988 writers strike, when he had been a member of the guild for a mere three weeks.
The biggest non-negotiable issue for him is residuals.
“When we’re not working, that’s what we live on,” he says. “Even old shows like Martin, The Jamie Foxx Show, we get those green [residuals] envelopes — hey, we’re happy to get ’em, you know? But most recently, if you worked for a show that’s on a streaming network or airs on a streaming network, those residuals are almost non-existent.”
Carrington says he recently received a check for $23 for his work on The Neighborhood, which airs on CBS and Paramount+.
“That’s a hit show. Currently on the air. Not a 30-year-old show. Current show. Small checks,” he says. “And you see the actors, they’re getting even smaller checks for hit shows. So that’s my biggest beef — residuals. We need to bump those up a lot for our streaming services.”
After last Friday’s meeting to talk about meeting, it doesn’t appear as though the WGA and AMPTP, which reps the studios, have any further meetings they’d like to announce yet. Nor has SAG-AFTRA heard from the studios and streamers, according to several negotiating committee members I ran into at Warner Bros.
But the requests for interim agreements have come pouring in from non-AMPTP-affiliated producers looking to continue film and TV shoots during the work stoppage. The pacts include conditions that are currently on the negotiating table, such as revenue sharing.
“Seven hundred and fifty productions have applied for an interim agreement,” says SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee member Charlie Bodin. “So every single time a production company says, ‘Yep, we’ll agree to those terms,’ the big guy, the one with all the money, is looking pretty dumb that they said they can’t afford it. Or as Bob Iger put it, our asks are ‘unrealistic.’”
The work stoppages have otherwise shut down the town, with the county’s film office, FilmLA, reporting that for yet another week there are zero scripted series with permits to film. But the point of the strike is disruption.
“It’s a sacrifice we’re making in this moment, but what it means for the rest of our careers and what it means for the rest of the country, it’s a sacrifice worth making,” says O’Keefe. “If it takes 200 days, 300 days — we’re going to still be out here.”
Today in Strike News
Blistering heat and tiring pickets aren’t the only things plaguing striking scribes. Against the better judgment of his wife/writing partner and strike captain Lisa Addario, screenwriter Joe Syracuse chowed down on a turkey sandwich that had been sitting in the sun for at least a couple hours, which sent him to the ER with salmonella, and led to his entire intestine being pulled out. “Now they know me as the stomach suture guy, the sandwich guy,” Syracuse says. “And if they see me eating something, they’re like ‘don’t do it.’ Even the security guard on Netflix came when she saw me eating a burrito. Even the Netflix security cares.” (Deadline)
Even the big stars are being hit by the strike, as Pose star Billy Porter said he has to sell his house. “Yeah! Because we’re on strike,” he says. “And I don’t know when we’re gonna go back. The life of an artist, until you make fuck-you money – which I haven’t made yet – is still check-to-check.” (The Guardian)
Between the striking unions, who make up much of his voter block, and the studios, whose executives are his critical campaign donors, lies California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who currently faces the tricky conundrum of whether or not to intervene in the negotiations. “He’s in a very difficult situation,” Darry Sragow, a veteran Democratic strategist, says. “He has to navigate very carefully, not just for the sake of his own career, but for the sake of everybody involved. There are very significant downsides and risks of a misstep here.” (Los Angeles Times)
With actors not able to promote their work — many of those projects being Latino-led films and TV shows, including Blue Beetle, the first superhero movie directed, written, and starring Latinos — 27 Latino advocacy organizations issued an open letter encouraging the public to support these projects. “For the sake of current and future generations of Latinos, we will not delay our progress any longer,” the letter reads. “We invite you to join us in our effort to amplify the work that countless Latino artists have worked so hard to create. It’s important that we show up for them at a time when they are not able to promote their projects.” (The Hollywood Reporter)
TV series rewatch podcasts — hosted by the stars of the shows — are handling the strike in different ways, with some diverting to different subject matter, some receiving waivers from SAG-AFTRA to talk about their show, and others canceling recordings altogether. (The Hollywood Reporter)
It’s a bird… it’s a plane… it’s Superman! Nope, it’s General Strike, the new superhero headlining indie publisher Black Mask Studios’ comic anthology written by WGA members, which will match writers’ fees with donations to the Entertainment Community Fund. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Picket Sign of the Day
Writer Kiran Subramaniam brought Jennifer Coolidge to the Warner Bros. picket.
Additional reporting for Today in Strike News by Matthew Frank.
Disclosure: Elaine Low is an inactive member of SAG-AFTRA.
Might the union(s) consider borrowing
a page from Berlin's Truppe31*
-- and create their own Fair Trade label....?
*(See my 'Berlin Stories' substack.)