On Friday, May 5, I walked a picket for over 12 hours – 49,000 steps, 18 ½ miles – and shut down production on the show Evil. With two other striking writers and an occasional ally, we held the line until well after midnight. Video of our little three-person picket was posted to social media where it has attracted millions of views and an outpouring of support for our cause.
@_faebae They kept the crew on the clock for 8.5 hours, despite being unable to shoot anything. “We paid for an 8 hour work day & the crew will not be wrapped until then” (30 min for lunch breaks) #wgaeast #solidarity #writersstrike #writersstrike2023 #unionstrong #tvcrew ♬ Tokyo Phonk Drift - Yan 394
I’m a working writer and have been a dues-paying member of the Writer’s Guild of America for over 20 years, but I’ve never gotten involved in union activities. I think I can safely say that neither of my fellow picketers who held that line for so long would call themselves an activist or labor leader.
So how did this happen, and why?
The answer has to do with issues that range far beyond the specifics of our contract dispute with AMPTP (the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers). Something is happening in this country - and even outside it - that has put the wind at our backs. Workers in many industries and occupations are anxious about the rise of automation and AI. They’re angry about the efforts of powerful corporations to commodify our work and force more and more of us out of the middle class and into a gig economy that in practice represents a kind of modern-day serfdom. They’re frustrated at a government that won’t stand up for its citizens by providing them decent health care, a living wage, and a dignified retirement in the most prosperous country in the world.
And when the three of us stood up and refused to back down, hour after hour, we became a symbol of this dissent – as indeed our Guild’s entire strike seems to have become. I struck with the WGA in 2007, and the situation was very different. Some people accused us writers of being spoiled and even greedy. Staff, cast and crew resented us for the lost paychecks. Even within the Writer’s Guild, there was dissent about the wisdom of our action.
Not this time.
This time, the vote of the membership to authorize our strike was 98% in favor, with more members than ever before participating in the vote. This time, writers are in broad agreement that we are at a watershed and that we must not and will not allow the studios to break our union – that they must offer fair contracts and fair compensation to the people who create the stories, the dialogue, the jokes, the characters and franchises that make them super-super-rich. This time, even the show runners (writer/producers) whose shows are being disrupted broadly agree with both the goals and tactics of our strike.
But most critically – and most hearteningly -- this time, the level of solidarity among all the entertainment unions has never been stronger. SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, has been powerfully represented at every picket. We’re supported by the Directors Guild. We have the support of editors and costume designers. And critically, so far we have enthusiastic support from crew union IATSE (the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) and the Teamsters. Without those folks, nothing gets shot — including Evil (a great show, by the way). Three striking writers didn’t have the power to disrupt that production, but 60 supportive IATSE crew members honoring our picket most certainly did. Which is why at 12:38AM, the show’s producers finally threw in the towel.
These other unions are the true heroes of this strike. Their solidarity, even at the cost of their wages (although the WGA does everything it can to try to ensure they do get paid), has given us enormous power. It has enabled us to disrupt and shut down production on dozens of shows in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. All because these unions’ members appear to feel, as we do, that the time to confront consolidated corporate power is now – or never. This is a broad demonstration of labor power, and they know when the time comes we’ll have their backs as well.
I don’t need to get into the specifics of our demands except to say that as you might expect they are reasonable, judicious, and focused on helping writers to make up some of the ground we have lost since our last contract negotiation. And also to ensure that in an age of automation we continue to be treated as partners and co-creators. The studios’ unwillingness to accede to these modest demands represents the kind of colossal short-sightedness characteristic of corporations whose leaders no longer understand that their organizations are made of people, of their fellow citizens, not cogs in a profit machine.
A lot must be done in this country if we are to finally teach these corporations that vital lesson, overcome their profit-driven insanity on issues from labor rights to climate, and use the emerging bounty of automation and AI to build up and enrich a thriving middle class rather than to enrich a minuscule minority. We three writers marching in a little circle outside that stage door, and the 60 or more crew across the street honoring our little picket (and playing us some great music!), represent the power that, united, we still possess to take back our legitimate power for workers, for democracy, and for America.
Right now, we can use your solidarity. Please tweet your support using the hashtag #WGAStrong or #WGAStrike and tag the union at @WGAEast and tag any one of the studios to demand they give writers a fair contract now!