Will the backlog of streams be reduced? As the WGA’s own data shows, it’s complicated

The backlog issue is a focus of the Writers Guild of America’s negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, as the two sides held their latest round of talks on a new agreement on Friday.

However, this is clearly a complicated subject – it gets even more complicated when you look under the hood of the WGA’s own finances.

Last week, the WKV’s bargaining committee, in its latest call for members to agree to a strike permit, said: “While our employers have increased their profits by tens of billions over the past decade, they have adopted business practices that have reduced our wages . . and overdue and undermine our working conditions.”

However, WGA West’s most recent annual report, released in June, notes that for the financial year ending March 31, 2022, the total surplus collected by the guild reached an “all-time high” in 2021. The Guild’s annual reports also show that total arrears increased by 48.2% between 2011 and 2021 – from $333 million to $493.6 million.

Charles Slocum, co-general manager at WGA West, told Deadline this week that “the overall backlog is bigger because there are a lot more projects being done and a lot more reuse.” The “cutting” of residues, he said, “is the program”.

And the guilty stream, where half of all serial writers now work.

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“In streaming, companies have not agreed to pay residual payments at the same level as broadcast or the same reward for success as is traditionally paid in broadcast,” he said. “When you write for a streamer, you get two final payments: one for domestic streaming and one for foreign streaming. It is a fixed amount. If it’s a big hit, streaming doesn’t pay you with more residuals, while the broadcast model pays you based on success. It’s the feeling that residuals have been cut – they haven’t agreed on a success factor when making a show for streaming.

That’s one of the things the guild is looking for in its ongoing negotiations with the AMPTP — a residual “bounty,” as Slocum put it, for successful shows, and a bounty for streaming showrunners that reflects their years of experience.

“We strive for economies of scale. We’re trying to get higher prices for more experienced writers,” he said, noting that more showrunners than ever are working at guild minimums. “You can’t hire a showrunner for the same price as a story editor. If they want to at least pay more experienced writers, then there should be a higher minimum for those writers.”

Slocum added, “As more writers work at scale, there has to be some experience. One could argue that since so many writers are now working at scale, overcompensation should be factored into the guild’s scale rates.

The guild said that “with the increasing dominance of streaming — where half of series writers now work — short assignments, the separation of writing and production, and the lack of a seasonal calendar have suppressed writers’ pay. Each position now has more writers with an MBA minimum employed than a decade ago. In the 2013-2014 season, 33% of all television series writers earned minimum wage. Now half work at minimum wage. More experienced writers, including showrunners, are now not being ‘ paid an outrageous premium for their years of experience. The average weekly salary for a writer and producer has fallen 4% over the past decade. Adjusted for inflation, the decline is 23%.”

According to the Guild’s most recent annual report: “New media, the largest residual category overall, accounted for nearly half, at 45.2%, of the total residuals collected. This is an increase compared to last year when new media accounted for 36.7% of all waste collected.”

The Guild’s annual reports also show that total TV program earnings from 2011 to 2021 increased by 59.25% – from US$203.09 million to US$323.43 million – while total film earnings increased by 31% over the same period. from $129.9 million in 2011 to $170. million in 2021.

And while there has certainly been a downturn in some moribund relic markets, such as home video, domestic syndication and primetime networks, these losses have been more than offset by big gains in others. Reuse of theatrical films in new media, which is the largest remaining market for motion pictures today, will grow by 432.7% between 2016 and 2021.

And on the television side, backlogs from repurposing traditional media shows in new media grew 162.4% between 2016 and 2021, making it by far the largest TV backlog market, reaching $108.8 million in 2021. % over the same period to reach $26.8 million by 2021, making it the third largest market by TV residuals.

However, the studios see the story of the guild very differently. A producer source told Deadline that streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ “have been a boon for writers, making residual streams of shows they wouldn’t otherwise have earned and benefiting from more opportunities to write commissions with more producers.” greenlighting more projects than ever before.”

Noting that the volume of English scripted TV in streaming has increased by more than 35% compared to the previous broadcast year, the source said that the volume of English TV published by streamers has increased by more than 250% since September 2017 .

“In the not-too-distant past,” the source said, “a series had to make it to five seasons – or the magical 100-episode threshold – to get syndicated outside the network, and the residuals earned by the writers , salt.” payable until the 5th year. With the emergence of [subscription video-on-demand] Platforms get a second window for series after their first season and final payments are paid.

“A serialized series will also have limited off-network capability, and in most cases none at all. With the rise of SVOD platforms, serialized series are thriving, earning residuals that didn’t exist before.

“Cancelled or so-called ‘broken’ series would disappear and it would close the books for writers. With the advent of SVOD platforms, those shows that only ran for one, two or three seasons have an opportunity to star in an SVOD series and earn that writer’s arrears.

“SVOD has also opened tremendous job opportunities that simply would not have existed without these platforms and their massive investment in original production. The product produced for SVOD actually generates significant residual flows for WGA members.

Meanwhile, the WGA’s negotiating committee also says that authors’ royalties have been “cut” over the past decade, but it depends on which data set it refers to — volume or excess. According to WGA West’s annual reports, the staggered payments negotiated by the guild have not been reduced in the last ten years. But the number of writers receiving inflated wages is declining, although overpayments are not the subject of collective bargaining but are negotiated by writers’ agents or lawyers.

According to the guild’s latest annual report, both total reportable (scale) fees and employment declined in 2021. “Total reported author revenue for endowment purposes fell 7.7% to $1.55 billion.” And for “contributory purposes,” the guild refers to reportable income that does not include excess rewards.

However, the annual report acknowledges that the 1 pandemic played a significant role in these recent declines. “The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continued into 2021,” the report said, “with the authors’ reported income and employment reflecting the disruption of the entertainment industry.” In all areas, authors reported declining employment and income.”

However, the Guild’s annual reports showed that total earnings for WGA West members, as reported for fee purposes, increased by more than 53% between 2011 and 2021, from $1.008 billion in 2011 to $1.547 billion in 2021 – an increase of $539 million from the previous year.

Reported television and digital platform revenue for WGA West members was $1.128 billion in 2021, an increase of more than 81% from $620.7 million in television revenue in 2011 – an increase of US$506.9 million compared to the previous year.

However, reported film earnings for WGA West members remained relatively flat, from $375.1 million in 2011 to $408.8 million in 2021 — a 9% increase, well below the rate of inflation. And during the pandemic, their screen earnings fell 6.6% in 2020 compared to 2019 and 13.3% in 2021 compared to 2020.

And yet, despite this general upward trend in total earnings covered over the past decade, data collected by the guild shows that outrageous payments to writers are on the decline. Slocum said with so many writers now working at scale, there is also a “premium” to pay for experienced writers.

Negotiations between the WGA and AMPTP are expected to get under way after guild members completed their vote to approve a strike permit on Monday. The current guild contract expires on May 1st.