Strike Watch: Would WGA form coalition with DGA and SAG-AFTRA in upcoming contract negotiations?

In the party frenzy during Emmy weekend, one topic inevitably came up in every conversation, the possibility of a writer’s strike. Even in September, the consensus was that a strike was likely.

Sentiment has only strengthened in recent months amid a worsening economic environment characterized by high inflation and a looming recession. The cross-platform elected WGA board members focused on upcoming contract talks and formed a negotiating committee that included several members of the committee that brought the guild’s campaign against talent agencies to a successful conclusion over packaging.

Given the difficult and entrenched issues at stake for writers, including raising the minimum wage, chip protection and the flow of waste streams, and the reduction of minirooms, a strike seems likely when the current contract ends on January 1, in May 2023. This result seems especially likely given that the WGA has historically been the most willing union in Hollywood to decide what they want. So far there have been six writer’s strikes.

“I think there’s a good chance there will be significant strike pressure,” said an industry veteran.

Apart from commercial actors, there have been three strikes for film and television actors, the last being in 1980. The directors went on strike only once, in 1987, and it lasted only three hours.

Despite DGA’s propensity to get in early and close a deal quickly, and SAG-AFTRA, so far, being relatively quiet about the upcoming deal negotiations, there has probably never been a greater confluence of factors that hinder cooperation. between the Hollywood promoting unions.

“Interestingly, this cycle the DGA releases, the Writers Guild releases and the Screen Actors Guild releases are much more aligned because it’s basically royalty and underdogs, and there aren’t as many separate releases specifically for the Writers Guild is not. ,” one observer said. “There’s always a few, and the mini-rooms, while it looks like it’s a separate issue, it’s really a weekly reward issue.”

In recent weeks, there have been rumors of WGA’s informal contacts with DGA and SAG-AFTRA, whose current contracts with the studios expire on June 30, and a possible reconciliation, particularly with DGA.

“I think the DGA leadership is much more aware now that the negotiating power that the Writers Guild has, the Writers Guild has to push the issues that are important to its members, like relics, because they have the same The Writers Guild has problems. People just don’t make as much as they used to,” an industry source told Deadline in early November. “They have a new manager since last time [pre-pandemic contract negotiation]I think he and the current president of the DGA are much more aware of the need for unified messages.

In an email to its members last week, DGA Chairman Jon Avnet and National Executive Director Russell Hollander put “increasing stream residuals” and “profits from strong salary increases” at the top of their list of “big issues” facing the game. They also sent a strong message reflecting the WGA’s readiness to strike.

“We have been preparing for more than a year to fulfill our guild’s highest goal: the protection of your economic and creative rights,” they wrote. “We are ready to negotiate and, if necessary, ready for a fight.”

We hear that the studios are trying to negotiate with the DGA before the end of the year and reach an agreement that could serve as a model for the other unions. Even if this happens, it probably won’t be like the old days when the directors would step in alone and enforce the WKV by establishing a contractual framework.

“Who makes the deal first? Probably the DGA, they usually do,” said an industry insider. “But I don’t think they would without significant communication with the Writers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild.”

The prospect of a writers’ strike had been on the radar of studio and network executives for months, but not at the forefront; They are expected to begin targeting the potential strike after the start of the year. There is not much that can be done in terms of preparation other than saving some scripts. (The studios are rumored to be reviewing their overall deal timelines with a view to terminating some in the event of a strike, as they did in January 2008 when about 40 deals were scrapped using the force majeure clause. )

Unlike November 2007-February. 08 writer’s strike, the timing of a possible work stoppage falls during the annual broadcast hiatus before the writers usually gather to work on the new season.

And ironically, the proliferation of so-called mini-rooms, which have become a major issue for the WGA in upcoming negotiations, will dilute the impact of a strike.

That’s because these writers’ rooms are usually assembled to work on new or returning shows before the network or streamer has made a decision to pick up or renew a series. Increasingly, entire off-air seasons of shows are written before production resumes, meaning streamers and cable networks can film new series episodes without being interrupted by a possible writer’s strike.

Problems associated with mini-rooms include low wages and protection from raises (since increasing the time writers work on a wobbly job at a flat production fee per episode reduces their weekly pay). Another point of contention is that writers jump from one mini-room to another without getting a chance to gain the production experience necessary to become a successful showrunner. (I’ve heard that a number of studios, including Netflix and UCP, have switched from a per-episode fee to a weekly writer’s fee.) The current model has the green light and filming takes place weeks or even months after Mini-Room. ends — that’s extra time that the studios and streamers don’t want to pay the writers for. That means a generation of writers rose to supervising producer or co-executive producer without ever setting foot on set.

“I think companies are very short-sighted when it comes to paying for the training to prepare the next generation of people they need to run shows – that’s a real problem,” an industry source said.

The deteriorating economic climate is likely to play a role in the upcoming negotiations. Writers’ incomes have been hit by inflation, making wage increases all the more urgent.

Meanwhile, media stocks struggled as investor priorities shifted from trickle-down growth to profitability. Added to that is the real risk of a recession, which could also affect talks. Some speculate that, as with previous negotiations in the difficult early months of the pandemic, writers would be less willing to strike during an economic downturn.

However, with SVOD and AVOD becoming the dominant medium for viewing existing series, while streaming residuals lag fiercely behind linear series, writers may not have a choice if the major studios don’t agree to a big pay raise.

Using new technology terminology from the 2001 negotiations, companies have so far resisted pressure from the WGA to drastically increase stream residuals.

“Even if the company has grown by 500%, no one is interested in increasing the negotiated minimum of 500%, how about 3-5%?” one person said.

As for the companies, which could argue they’re losing billions of dollars while ramping up their streamers, “that’s because they’ve chosen to compete for viewership market share,” the person added. “The writers, directors and actors should not suffer for their decisions to capture market share.”

Dominic Patten contributed to this report.