Thousands of writers in the film and television industry are planning to go on strike, causing chaos as Hollywood tries to keep up with the changing landscape of streaming TV.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is calling for higher pay from studios like Disney and Netflix, but talks have broken down and the last strike in 2007-2008 cost the California economy over $2 billion.
The WGA says that writers have been suffering financially during the streaming TV boom, with shorter seasons and smaller residual payments.
They’re also concerned about the use of artificial intelligence to generate new scripts and want to ensure they’re not asked to rewrite draft scripts created by AI.
It’s all very high-tech and futuristic, but at the end of the day, these writers just want to get paid fairly for their work.
The strike is likely to disrupt late-night shows like “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” which rely on teams of writers to come up with witty jokes.
And if the work stoppage becomes prolonged, we could see delays in the fall TV season, with networks filling their programming lineups with unscripted reality shows, news magazines, and reruns.
It’s a tough time for the entertainment industry, with the rise of streaming services and declining TV ad revenue.
But maybe, just maybe, if the studios and writers can come to an agreement, we’ll get some great new TV shows and movies to binge-watch on our favorite streaming platforms.
Source: Reuters
