The prospect is “being confirmed day by day,” according to the New York Times. On April 17, nearly 98% of the members of the Syndicate its American screenwriters “authorized their leaders to go on strike” to obtain wage increases, reports Variety, relayed by Courrier International. The profession, which is often poorly paid, is demanding an increase in wages commensurate with the good economic health of the sector.
The first stages of negotiations have not been fruitful for the union, which is brandishing the threat of a general strike. The screenwriters will have to decide on May 1, the expiry date of the framework contracts which bind the screenwriters’ union to the association of film and television producers.
For its part, the studios are getting into battle order and preparing to short-circuit the social movement. “In recent weeks, Hollywood has begun to prepare for the strike. Studio executives have pre-ordered scripts and are gearing up to produce a flood of reality TV series that don’t require the services of screenwriters,” reports The New York Times.
The claims are not new: screenwriters, poor relatives of the Hollywood economy, are asking for better working conditions and a clear increase in their salaries. “Remunerations have stagnated over the past decade,” details The New York Times. At the same time, the platforms and their revenues have exploded, bringing with them an exponential growth in the number of series produced.
However, the triggering of a strike movement is not certain. Unions and studios still have a few days to find common ground. In 2017, the screenwriters threatened to strike for the same reasons and an agreement was reached at the last minute. Because everyone in Hollywood keeps the memory of the social movement of 2007-2008 which made the studios give in. At the time, reports The Hollywood Reporter , this hundred-day strike had paralyzed the entire sector and caused the loss of $ 2.1 billion to all California studios.