After nearly five months of picketing around New York City and Hollywood streets, writers of America have finally reached a tentative agreement with entertainment companies, ending the stagnation of film and TV productions. In addition to 148 days of striking, with writers now allowed to return to work and union members voting to ratify a deal with studios, the strike stings many.
“There’s something known as creative accounting, where the actual profit that a film makes can be greatly reduced if you sort of attach that profit with all different sources,” said Robert Pawloski, a professor of screenwriting and film history at the University of Maryland, and a former screenwriter himself.
“It’s important that writers are given a fair share of the overall process.” Writers unsatisfied with the insufficiency of profit they received believed it did not correlate with the effort and significance of work they devoted to films. Some writers claimed they couldn’t afford to live under the pay structure, and even award-winning screenwriters found themselves looking for different professions.
“I think that AI certainly doesn’t make screenwriting any better or original because it can look things up,” Professor Pawloski said. Artificial intelligence (AI) was another concern for writers, claiming that it deprives the authenticity of human art through their work. Writers were unwilling to work with the insecurity caused by such technology tools.
Moreover, writers did not want to share credit with AI because of the complexity of the software. As an AI is not human, concerns arise about the threat to term credits, raising the possibility of neither writers nor AI receiving due credit. As a result, writers urged studios to refrain from using their work to train AI, considering it an exploitation of their creative efforts.
Now that writers gradually return to work, movies and TV series streaming on production companies like Netflix recommend films. Despite that, films can take far longer to, in effect, release or manifest under the lengthy process of production. Other paused films must go through a commotion to stay on schedule. Consequently, many TV series, such as “30 Rock,” “CSI,” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” have decided to reduce the number of episodes in their seasons.
Montgomery College student Carlos Rodriguez said, “I would appreciate it if my shows came back, but I know what the strike is for.” Even though fans acknowledge the virtue of the strike, anticipation for the return of films simultaneously rises.
In the case of late-night-show hosts, restoration settled. Many late-night shows, including “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” will return to the air on Oct. 2, 2023.
According to Empire State Development, “disruption of 11 major productions resulted in a loss of $1.3 billion and 17,000 jobs [restaurant staff].” From prop shops to restaurants, the writer’s temporal work interruption impacted businesses that rely on the industry to expand their profit. The company’s decision to cut off employees from working to restore its progression caused collateral damage to the nationwide economy.
Although screenwriters were the primary core to the protest during the strike, many, even those who may seem irrelevant when looked at from the big picture of the situation, experienced the burdened weight, while others felt the victory of the cause.
Article written by Allison Rodriguez of Springbrook Highschool