- No contract! - [Protester] No peace! - [Narrator] For the
first time in 15 years, more than 11,000 movie
and television writers in Hollywood's Writers
Guild went on strike. - This is absolutely an existential moment for the writing profession. - We want to ensure that
working on "The Handmaid's Tale" isn't the last good
job that any of us has. - [Narrator] The decision
brought productions to a halt, and dealt a blow to an
industry that's been rocked by the pandemic and the new ways people watch movies and Television. - The industry is saying,
we're still not sure where this is going. We're losing money on these businesses. This is not the time to
be trying to squeeze us. - [Narrator] As hundreds
of writers from Los Angeles to New York took to the picket lines, we sat down with the
writers and union members at the center of the strike to understand what led to this moment and what's next. - [Protester] What do we want? - [Protesters] Fair contracts! - [Narrator] The strike has pitted the Writers Guild of America, the WGA, against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the AMPTP, which represents the major studios. - We came to the table
with all these issues, and what we got back really
felt kind of like gas lighting. - [Narrator] Yahlin Chang is a showrunner on the Hulu series, "The Handmaid's Tale." - Blessed be the fruit. - [Narrator] She's also a member of the Writers Guild's
negotiating committee. She was in the room when negotiations with the studios came to a head. - The companies came back
refusing to engage with us on our core existential issues. - [Narrator] The AMPTP did not respond to requests for comment about Chang's gas lighting accusations, but studio executives
say every effort was made to engage in meaningful
discussions and bargaining. Many of the issues dividing the two sides are tied to the ways streaming has completely transformed the industry. - As the studios move
towards the streaming model, it was an arms race. - [Narrator] Justin
Halpern is a board member for the Writers Guild. As well as a showrunner and writer for the ABC sitcom, "Abbott Elementary." - I've been teaching
here at Abbott Elementary for a year now. The staff here is incredible. - Everybody was trying to amass
the most amount of content, as many shows as they could
possibly kind of pump out to compete with all the
other streaming services. Then suddenly, the orders of
shows became much smaller. The amount of weeks that they
were asking writers to work also became much smaller. - [Narrator] In a network television show like "Abbott Elementary,"
a writer typically has enough work to support
themselves for an entire year. - Because we make 22 episodes
of "Abbott Elementary," our writers are able to make a good living and live in Los Angeles. We should not be the anomaly. - [Narrator] But in the
new world of streaming, episode orders have
declined to eight or 12. And unlike network shows, many stream shows don't go into production until most of the scripts
are completely mapped out. - There's this thing called mini rooms, which have taken over Hollywood and it's the studios deciding, hey, we're gonna put
together a room of writers. But you're not producing the show, you're just like writing some scripts and breaking out the season. All of the hardest stuff
there is to do in writing. And because you're not producing, we're not gonna pay you the producing fee. We're gonna pay you the minimum, which is the least amount of
money they can legally pay us. - [Narrator] In response
to the WGA's concerns, the studios agreed to
increase minimum rates for writers working in those
types of development rooms. Still, writers say this
new production model has made screenwriting more
like a gig economy job. - Between seasons one and two, we had a writer who had to drive an Uber. Most shows you'll have a writer who gets a 10 week gig, or a 12 week gig, and that could be it for the whole year. That could be it for 18 months, and a writer simply can't live on that. - [Narrator] The studios say that employment as a writer
has almost nothing in common with standard gig jobs. - The studios would argue that
this is not a gig economy. For starters, the pension
and health benefits are a lot better, and
secondly, you're employed on a weekly episodic basis and you're getting paid
every week a set wage. - [Narrator] The studios
are also confronting a rapidly changing business. Subscriber growth for many of the streaming companies has slowed, and viewership has declined
for network and cable shows. - They're always looking for places where they can trim costs, whether it's reducing staffing
within their own companies, or finding ways to squeeze every penny out of a production budget. - [Narrator] The last time
the Writers Guild of America went on strike against
the Hollywood Studios was in November, 2007. It lasted for a hundred days. (horns honking) The strike centered on the way DVD sales and video on demand were quickly
replacing rerun syndication as a main source of revenue. The writers wanted their
fair share of those profits. - We want our fair share! We're here because we care! - The '07-'08 strike was
incredibly successful because we won coverage of the internet. So for all the shows
that are streaming now, it wouldn't be covered by our
union if we had not struck. - [Narrator] In the moments
before the recent negotiations reached a standstill, the writers say they weren't the ones to end the talks. - It was the studios
who came back and said if you don't give up on
these countless proposals that are essential in
core to your negotiation, then there's no point in talking anymore. So they were the ones
who walked away, not us. We were there. We were there, we had
pizza, we were waiting. - [Narrator] The studios
say that they listened to the WGA's proposals,
and presented the writers with a comprehensive offer. - The studios have prospered
enormously from our shows. The budget for writing for
each show has stagnated, while show budgets have ballooned - [Narrator] The WGA says nearly half of Guild Writers
working in television are being paid minimum rates. To address these concerns, the studios say they offered a substantial wage increase, and created a higher floor for mid-level writers' compensation, but the increases didn't
meet the WGA's demands. - The WGA is trying to put protections into our contract for writers so that we can get a guaranteed
number of weeks of pay at a minimum that allows us to
live and work in Los Angeles. - [Narrator] The AMPTP said in a statement that its offer included generous increases in
compensation for writers, and that it was willing
to keep negotiating. - The studios have offered
increases in, you know, starting wages for writers. They would tell you we've offered our most significant wage increase
in, you know, like 25 years. - [Protester] And then there's
the issue of residuals, which are like royalty
payments for screenwriters. Writers are typically
paid less in residuals for stream shows compared
to those on broadcast TV. - The streamers have been
very protective of their data so we have no idea how
well shows are doing. We have to take their word for it. We would like some sort of compensation that's tied to the success of the show. - [Narrator] The AMPTP has
provided some counter offers, but they did not meet the WGA's demands. - The studio streamers and networks, they have offered raises on
residuals and on minimum wages. - [Narrator] Late night
shows were the first to feel the ripple effects of the strike, with most heading into reruns. - I also feel very strongly that what the writers are
asking for is not unreasonable. - [Narrator] Some content
providers are in a better position than others to weather the Strike. Streaming services like
Netflix and HBO Max all tend to make their
shows far in advance. But the fall TV season
for broadcast networks could be delayed. - The Writer's Room for
season three of "Abbott" was supposed to start
May 2nd, and we struck and so we are not able to
start our Writer's Room and get to work. - On "The Handmaids
Tale," we were breaking and writing our final season. When the strike hit, we just
all closed down the room. It was heartbreaking. - [Narrator] As the standoff continues, writers throughout the industry continue to take to the picket lines. - None of us wanted this
strike, but we are fighting. - We wanna be writing "Abbott Elementary." We all want to be making television shows. We just want to be paid fairly
by the studios for doing it. (soft pensive music)
