The writers’ strike is entering its second weekthe ramifications of the absence of some of the key people on set are already showing: two of the biggest projects currently in production – Marvel’s blade Reboot and the fifth season of stranger things— have been shelved (along with many more films and shows, which I’ll get to in a moment).
What’s the deal with the strike?
Writers are rightly fed up with tons of things, from the number of exploitative short-term contracts being offered in the age of streaming, to low wages and bad residuals, to the threat of machine learning.
Post on the official Twitter account of the stranger things Writers’ room, the show’s creators, the Duffer brothers, wrote:
Duffer here. The writing doesn’t stop once filming begins. While we look forward to starting production with our amazing cast and crew, this is not possible during this strike. We hope that a fair settlement will be reached soon so that we can all get back to work. Until then – over and over. #wgastrong
Without its writers or showrunners, production has ground to a halt. damn yes Downing Tools is also new to Marvel blade Movie that was shut down and “will resume production once the strike is over“.
And those two are far from the only shows and films affected. A lot of live TV, especially late-night comedy programs, have already gone dark The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
And while broadcasters and studios will be content for a while with material already written and filmed, they will be in trouble if the strike continues and material dries up. And even when the strike is over, they will quiet get into trouble, because production backlogs and rescheduling become an absolute nightmare.
Of course, not every project and studio hits the pause button. HBO’s game of Thrones spin off house of the dragon
The Writers Guild of America, the union calling for the strike, estimates that improving its members’ contracts would cost Hollywood a total of $430 million a year. There are already estimates of what this strike could do 2 billion dollars Damage value for the entertainment economy. This may seem like a simple sum, just pay these people what they are worth, but these strikes are never about the money, they are about them control.
Solidarity with all who are manning the picket lines and good luck in the days/weeks/months to come.
