Writers Strike Picket Line Takes Over Entire New York City Block
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The first picket line of the 2023 writers strike took over an entire New York City block Tuesday afternoon, with the WGA work stoppage official, and union strike plans in full effect.
Hundreds of writers representing all parts of the WGA East’s membership marched on 5th Avenue, between 37th and 38th streets, blocking the entrance to the Newfront presentation for Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service.
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“This is viewed as an existential moment for writers,” writer, actor, producer and director Danny Strong told The Hollywood Reporter on the picket line. “I think that we are very dug in, and I think that what we’re asking for is fundamentally right and it is a basic sort of fairness. There’s more content than ever and yet writer salaries have gone significantly down because all these revenue streams have been eliminated.”
“We feel like the current financial model towards streaming in particular is unfair, that it needs to be adjusted,” Strong added. “It needed to be adjusted three years ago, but the writers very graciously because of the pandemic chose not to address the issues at that time, because it was such an unprecedented, disturbing time for the entire world. But these issues have only gotten worse for writers since then. Streaming has only gotten bigger. It’s only taking up a bigger portion of the market share, and it’s going to be dominating the industry for decades to come. So now is the moment that we need to get a fair share of income from that.”
It was a concern echoed by Sasha Stewart, a member of the WGA East’s leadership council, and a writer most recently of Netflix’s Amend: The Fight for America.
“I think the AMPTP refused to discuss some of our most pressing issues because they want writing to stop being a career,” Stewart said. “They don’t want it to be a career. I think they want it to be a gig, that you have once every few years, for a couple of days maybe, or a week or two at a time.”
“I think that’s what they want for directors. I think that’s what they want for actors and for crew members as well,” Stewart added. “I think they don’t want people to be able to actually make a living, creating the content that is so profitable for them.”
Josh Gondelman, a writer for Last Week Tonight With John Oliver and Desus & Mero, told THR that he, like other writers, doesn’t “want to be on strike,” but energy for union “is really high” right now because there’s so much at stake in terms of past wins and the future of the industry. “Everybody here is out here shouting and marching because it’s so important to the future of not just us, but the people who come after us and the legacy of the people who came before us,” Gondelman added.
Patrick Coker, a head writer for BET’s Tales and supervising producer, said this was his first time striking as a Hollywood scribe. However, he was on the picket line many times before as a Verizon employee before joining WGA in 2017. It was an experience that has prepared him for a long strike and includes him not working in any producing capacity until a deal is reached.
“Whenever you go on strike to get things that you deserve, in the short term, you suffer a little bit,” Coker said. “We’ll struggle because we won’t have the pay, we might lose our health care — hopefully during that time nothing disastrous happens with your health. But you have to put it online because if you don’t fight for it now, they’ll just chip away as time goes on.”
And Just Like That star Sara Ramirez also appeared on the line holding their own sign and promised that they will be in this for the long haul with the writers. “I am prepared,” they said. “I really believe in writers’ work. The content that we consume would not exist without our writers, and they deserve better contracts. So I’m here in solidarity as a member of SAG-AFTRA, with my writers who I love and respect so much.”
Coker — who said one of his main priorities for striking was to avoid Hollywood becoming a “gig economy” — admitted he wasn’t necessarily surprised by what happened at midnight on Tuesday, but told THR he was “hoping that the corporations would see the light and they would see that without us, there is no content. Everything starts with a word on a page and we put the words on a page.”
For Gondelman, one of the main issues for the strike is how streamers “structure seasons and shows,” which he said are getting shorter and as a result, there’s less long-term security in rooms that are getting smaller. “They’re making more content than ever, but writers’ wages with inflation have dipped over the last 10 years a pretty significant amount. So this is like an existential threat because they’re not only keeping the wages depressed but are taking away the security and the stability that allows writers to make a sustainable living over a year and over a career.”
Ramirez also told THR on the line that they take issue with how rooms are currently being operated. “When you hire writers, they better see all those scripts — every writer in that writers room better get a hold of each script that comes out,” they said. “I’m not OK with hiring a writers room and then keeping some of those writers out of the process. I know that happens — we within the system know what happens — and it’s not OK.”
Coker also pointed to streamers’ disparate treatment of writers, particularly those from historically marginalized communities, as a major issue. While streaming has expanded some opportunities for BIPOC and female scribes, he said it has not offered them the same benefits and opportunities for advancement as their white predecessors before the streaming area.
“Streaming — new media — was the new frontier, but now it’s the main frontier, and because of how it opened up, more writers of color and more women were able to get in, but they are being held down in those lower positions and that’s a problem with streamers,” he said. “And with streaming, they’ll have a room that runs from January to May. The show won’t be produced until you’re let go in June and July, so you don’t get that experience producing which means you can’t move up a level in the writers room.”
While the picket line did not appear to impact Peacock’s Newfront (an attendee told THR that the room was full, with many people standing after all the chairs were taken), it immediately became a destination for visitors. A tourist visiting New York from California told THR that when they heard about the strike, they adjusted their schedule to check out the picket line, which included familiar faces like Strong, Severance‘s Zach Cherry, The Tonight Show‘s Steve Higgins and Ramirez, along with members of SAG-AFTRA and IASTE.
In a statement obtained by THR a spokesperson for New York’s City Hall said, “The film and television industry is vital to New York City’s culture and economy, representing 6.5 percent of the city’s gross domestic product and employing more than 185,000 New Yorkers. It is essential that both parties find an effective balance that allows workers to be paid a fair wage and industries to continue to grow and add good jobs. We recommend that the two parties remain at the bargaining table and reach a voluntary agreement, so New York City can continue to be a vibrant hub for film and television production.”
4:20 p.m. This story has been updated to add a statement from a City Hall spokesperson.
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