News & Commentary April 30, 2023

https://onlabor.org/april-30-2023/

By Will Ebeler

Will Ebeler is a student at Harvard Law School.

In this weekend’s news and commentary, Hollywood braces for a Writers Guild strike; New York reaches a tentative budget agreement; and a union decertification petition is filed at a Buffalo, New York Starbucks store.

The screenwriters for many of Hollywood’s biggest shows and movies are poised to go on strike Tuesday morning. Earlier in April, the Writers Guild of America, representing roughly 11,500 screenwriters, voted to authorize a strike unless they manage to reach an agreement before May 2. As of Sunday morning, a deal did not appear close.

Writers and studios alike have been preparing for a strike for weeks. Many writers have been rushing to meet deadlines that their studios moved up in advance of the strike. Some, facing the prospect of what could be months without pay, have been trying to find new projects which usually include up-front payments. Television studios, meanwhile, have been pushing to have scripts finalized so that production can continue while the writers strike. They have pushed production to the fall on some series whose scripts are not yet ready. And late-night comedy shows are likely to go off-air if there is a strike. Meanwhile, streaming and movie studios may be less impacted, at least in the short term. Many streaming services have been facing pressure to cut costs and some industry insiders thought they could view a strike as a benefit. Further, because movie studios operate at a longer time scale than television does, they won’t feel the impact of a strike as immediately.

The last time writers authorized a strike, in 2017, the sides ultimately reached an agreement a few hours before a strike began.

FULL story at link above.