CULVER CITY, California—Chanting echoed across most of Culver City on Tuesday, the day after the Writers’ Guild of America called for a strike in Hollywood. Movie and TV studios failed to come to a deal with the union by May 1, leading to an industry-wide halt of all writing, from writers’ rooms that contribute to late-night television and series like Abbott Elementary to screenwriters working on films of all budgets and sizes.
Seeing as both the Sony Pictures and Amazon Studios lots are saddled together in Culver City, picketers waded throughout the area armed with clever signs, good humor, and energy to last them as long as the studios refuse to come to the table.
Over at the Amazon Studios lot, it was Disney Channel screenwriter and strike captain Nicholas Geisler who took charge in leading the strike shouts. Though he took a break to control the strike’s traffic as he chatted with The Daily Beast, someone within the crowd held his book of chants, a protest strategy he learned in his past work at Greenpeace.
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“I never know who’s going to start another one,” Geisler said while navigating picketers around the loop at the end of the block. “There is no more collaborative form of writing than TV and film writing. That spirit of collaboration made it really easy for everybody to come together and love each other and do a really good job here. Not a single person has been worried or scared or nervous.”
Before he became a writer for series like Bunk’d on Disney Channel and Team Kaylie on Netflix, Geisler also worked in the industry under the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). That union, which now stands in solidarity with the WGA, narrowly avoided a strike in 2021.
“I have already seen how difficult it is to, once I’ve already gotten this job that has taken years and years and years, to actually survive on that,” Geisler said. “We’ve all had those moments where we thought, ‘You’ve made it. You’re a writer.’ Then, all of a sudden, this great job isn’t enough to pay your rent every single month. We can deal with a little short-term pain if it’s going to help us have a long-term gain, and help us have healthy, middle class lives with families in a very expensive city.”
Members of the WGA are fighting for a contract that is up-to-date with the rise of streaming services. Right now, streamers can hire a team for what’s called a “mini room”—a shorter, smaller writers’ room that comes at a much lower cost to streamers—which makes it difficult for writers to make a living, constant wage.
Marjorie David, the vice president of the WGA West, said streamers like Amazon are treating writers like gig workers, which is a “terrible thing to do.”
“The streamers don’t care about anything, they think we’re Uber drivers: ‘Come in, do your job, go home, that’s great. You’re free,’” David said. “Not good. We don’t want to be free from health and pension. We don’t want to be free from paying our rent. We don’t want to be free from buying a house or sending our kids to school or anything like that. I don’t like seeing the younger members of the guild—who are really wonderful and talented—getting pushed into the corner where they can’t see themselves as professional writers.”
But it’s not just the streamers who avoid paying their writers. Maria Elena Rodriguez, who has been in the WGA for 20 years, claimed the studios believe WGA members are dispensable, and that after decades in the industry, some platforms have resorted to paying her the minimum amount in the union’s contract.
“I think some of the studios think we’re as replaceable as plumbers,” Rodriguez said. “I was a line producer before I was a writer. I’ve worked on non-union, other union shows—I’m telling you, if you do not have collective bargaining, you don’t have diddly squat in this town.”
Beside Rodriguez was Robin Schiff, who nodded and agreed with all of Rodriguez’ statements. But Schiff has the benefit of being a bit of a name in the industry, having written Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and some episodes of Emily In Paris. Still, the writer advocates for the fact that her experience hasn’t helped in any capacity.
“If I’m negotiating a deal, the companies aren’t saying, ‘Robin Schiff has so much experience, let’s pay her what she’s worth!’” Schiff said. “You’ve got to fight for every penny, and you have to have leverage to get what you’re worth.”
This makes it even tougher to ride the middle line. If you’re not a young writer making the absolute minimum, but you’re also not as experienced as folks like Schiff, it’s difficult to find a living wage—or a wage at all.
“There are no middle class writers anymore,” Schiff added. “You used to be able to make a living and support a family as a middle class writer. They have the baby writers and the executive producers, and that mid-level is just gone.” She then quoted the legendary Hollywood producer Irving Thalberg: “The writers are the most important people in Hollywood, but they can never let the son-of-a-bitches find out.” (Or something like that.)
This is the first WGA strike in over a decade. The last strike came in 2007 and lasted just over three months. Back in 2007, the WGA attempted to negotiate their contract in regards to streaming services—but the studios refused to come to the table. Similarly, in 2023, the film and TV companies refused to talk about AI in any negotiations.
“In 2007, they refused to discuss streaming because they were like, ‘Oh, it’s streaming, it’s nothing. It doesn’t exist. We don’t know what it’ll be,’” David said. “Well, the day the 2007 strike ended, Hulu was opened up.”
Nicole Yorkin served on the negotiation committee of the WGA. Along with David, she stressed that AI is becoming a bigger issue as the union continues with negotiations.
“It became very clear to us how important AI is to the companies when they would not even open a discussion about it,” Yorkin said. “They basically said they wanted to preserve that technology in case their employees should need it. That tells us that probably what they’d like to do is eventually replace us and replace many other people in the business with AI.”
There are, however, some plus sides of this strike. Every so often, chatting with the WGA members, a familiar face would interrupt and halt the conversation. A reunion of sorts for all the writers of Los Angeles, smiles and positive energy echoed throughout the marching and shouting.
The scene also clarified how the WGA has changed since 2007. “There’s a little bit of a difference between this time and last time, because you see a lot younger crowd, a lot more diverse crowd than 2007,” Yorkin said. “It really reflects how our industry has changed.”
Though no one has an estimate of how long this strike will last, there are many ways to show solidarity with the WGA. While folks are picketing in New York or Los Angeles, film writer Ed Horowitz had a suggestion for folks who don’t live in those metropolitan areas.
“Cancel your subscriptions,” Horowitz said. “If people out there started canceling their subscriptions and not watching stuff that is on streamers, that would have a huge impact, if people were to do that in numbers. If enough people cancel their subscriptions—even in the short run in solidarity—that will actually make a statement.”
But even if you’re not looking to cancel Netflix, HBO Max, or any of the other major streamers, there are still ways to show support. Geisler recommended keeping an eye out for funds that will contribute writers as they continue to strike and forfeit paychecks from shows they could’ve worked on.
“Look for those funds to help assistants and people who can’t work because of this, but desperately want to support as well,” he said. “Union strength in any sector is good for this sector as well. We’re lucky we live in a time where labor is getting the respect and attention it deserves. Helping these union pushes—whether it’s at Amazon Studios or Amazon proper—it ends up helping everybody.”
But if you happen to reside in New York or Los Angeles, Yorkin advised joining the picket line. Upon arrival, Yorkin ran into a woman who was unaffiliated with the WGA, but still wanted to support the union with her presence.
“That is really encouraging to all of us who know that we may be out here for weeks or even months, to have so much support from other people who understand that it’s not just a bunch of rich people looking to feather their pockets,” Yorkin said. “We’re all out here as working writers trying to make things better for all of us.”
