![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
WGA Strike of 2023
May. 2nd, 2023 05:10 pmThe Writer's Guild of America are on strike.
I wish this wasn't happening, I wish studios and streaming services would treat their writers with common decency and respect and pay them fairly as they rightfully deserve, but it seems that the system has always been against writers and anyone within those fields that they view as an afterthought or can exploit (see: how VFX workers are mistreated and disregarded in the entertainment industry).
I remember the 2007-2008 WGA Strike. I remember how long and drawn-out it was, and yeah many shows got royally screwed over in the process of this, seasons shortened and delayed or outright cancelled. Some shows that did survive also didn't recover from that damage, either. I have no doubt that this will happen again if the strike goes on long enough. While I haven't really watched much Western television for some time, that doesn't mean this isn't important or that other things won't be affected outside of that. Hearing about what streaming services have been doing to shows because they don't want to pay residuals, flat out cancelling things left and right even when they were renewed or in the middle of production, and just removing them entirely from their services as if they never existed to begin with, plus a lot more that's going on behind-the-scenes, this is something worth paying attention to and supporting the WGA. Times may be different in the world of entertainment, but the issues still remain the same, and perhaps even worse due to the environment has shifted within the industry because things are different and TPTB can find unfortunate loopholes. Something needs to change, and this is why unions exist. As much as it shouldn't be necessary to exist, I support them, wholeheartedly.
Neil Gaiman posted what the WGA proposed during negotiations, to give a better insight of what is being fairly asked and why they are on strike for.
I wish this wasn't happening, I wish studios and streaming services would treat their writers with common decency and respect and pay them fairly as they rightfully deserve, but it seems that the system has always been against writers and anyone within those fields that they view as an afterthought or can exploit (see: how VFX workers are mistreated and disregarded in the entertainment industry).
I remember the 2007-2008 WGA Strike. I remember how long and drawn-out it was, and yeah many shows got royally screwed over in the process of this, seasons shortened and delayed or outright cancelled. Some shows that did survive also didn't recover from that damage, either. I have no doubt that this will happen again if the strike goes on long enough. While I haven't really watched much Western television for some time, that doesn't mean this isn't important or that other things won't be affected outside of that. Hearing about what streaming services have been doing to shows because they don't want to pay residuals, flat out cancelling things left and right even when they were renewed or in the middle of production, and just removing them entirely from their services as if they never existed to begin with, plus a lot more that's going on behind-the-scenes, this is something worth paying attention to and supporting the WGA. Times may be different in the world of entertainment, but the issues still remain the same, and perhaps even worse due to the environment has shifted within the industry because things are different and TPTB can find unfortunate loopholes. Something needs to change, and this is why unions exist. As much as it shouldn't be necessary to exist, I support them, wholeheartedly.
Neil Gaiman posted what the WGA proposed during negotiations, to give a better insight of what is being fairly asked and why they are on strike for.
