writers strike

TV and film production in Los Angeles was slow to recover from the industry-wide strikes last fall, according to new data released by FilmLA. Scripted TV production ticked up slightly in the fourth quarter compared with the prior three-month period, but still remained far below historic levels. And feature film production continued to decline even after the strikes ended. The WGA strike ended on September 27 after nearly five months, and the SAG-AFTRA strike concluded six weeks later, on November 9.

There was a time when streamers — led by Netflix, burning a hole in its balance sheet with annual negative cash flow in the billions — were banking on double-digit subscriber growth. And they were spending on content like there was no tomorrow. Well, tomorrow came.

The council told various departments to identify any resources or policy changes needed to expedite the local film and television production in town.

Moody’s Investors Service estimates that the new contract with writers and actors that ended their long strikes will cost the studios close to $600 million annually — on the high end of its earlier estimate of $450 million to $600 million. Absorbing those new costs doesn’t worry Moody’s when it comes to media-company credit ratings, because they are a relative drop in the bucket to the TV and film entertainment business, which generates more than $100 million yearly.

For more than a decade, work had been nonstop in Atlanta’s booming film industry thanks to Georgia’s extremely generous tax break. Dubbed the “Hollywood of the South,” metro Atlanta became a ubiquitous backdrop for huge projects, including Marvel films and Netflix’s Stranger Things. But work dried up last winter and has been at a near-standstill ever since the industry’s writers went on strike in May and actors joined them in July. Writers reached a deal late last month, but with the actors strike still ongoing, countless Atlanta-based performers, as well as members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, are grappling for financial survival and with whether they’ll even return to the industry. Pictured: Ethan Embry in a scene from the Netflix comedy series Grace & Frankie.

Why did it take five months? That’s the vexing question that entertainment industry insiders are wrestling with even as they cheer the end of the Writers Guild of America strike. Union leaders said it again and again all summer — that Hollywood’s system for collective bargaining was “broken.” Turns out they were right.

The Writers Guild of America announced Monday that 99% of the 8,525 members who cast ballots voted to ratify the deal. The agreement was widely touted as a win by leaders, and widely praised by members, with major gains in payment, size of show staffs and control of artificial intelligence in scripts. The result of the vote taken over the past week was never really in doubt.

The film and TV sector lost 7,000 jobs in September alone.

With the strike by the Writers Guild of America over and talks progressing between the studios and the actors union, sales-tracking platform MediaRadar estimated that television ad sales were down 10% to $14.4 billion from May to August, compared to a year ago when there was no strike. MediaRadar expects ad revenue to also be lower in September.

A tentative agreement between Hollywood writers and film studios could set a precedent for protecting workers from being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI). After a 148-day strike, the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reached a tentative agreement last week including several AI-related protections for writers. While some of the AI rules are specific to Hollywood, experts said the overall debate and power the agreement gives workers could translate into other labor battles beyond the scope of television and movies. (Ashley Landis/AP)

CBS’s  The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live and NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon were the first shows to leave the air when the writers strike began on May 2, and now will be among the first to return on Monday night. Comedian John Oliver got his first take on the strike out, exuberantly returning Sunday night to his Last Week Tonight show on HBO and delivering full-throated support for the strike.

The end of the writers’ strike marks a new era. Studios and streamers are likely to order fewer TV shows. Consolidation could follow.

The governing boards of the eastern and western branches of the Writers Guild of America and their joint negotiating committee all voted to accept the deal, two days after the tentative agreement was reached with a coalition of Hollywood’s biggest studios, streaming services and production companies. After the vote they declared that the strike would be over and writers would be free to start on scripts at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Crucial steps remain for the writers, who technically remain on strike, and for other workers awaiting a return to production of new shows. The next phase comes Tuesday, when the governing boards of the two branches of the Writers Guild of America are expected to vote on the tentative agreement reached by union negotiators with Hollywood studios.

The beginning of October was widely seen as the marker for when the writers strike would need to be over to give ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC a fighting chance to get any of their scripted shows on the air for a midseason premiere. While the actors strike still needs to be resolved and the writers deal still needs to be voted on and ratified, there is optimism that the majority of network dramas and comedies will be able to launch in the new year.

The potential end of the Hollywood writers strike sparked a jump on Monday in movie and streaming industry stocks, led by Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount with shares of Disney, AMC Entertainment, and Netflix also rising. Warner Bros and Paramount were the biggest gainers, up 1.44% and 1.5%, respectively. Disney rose 0.5%, while AMC was up 0.6%. Netflix edged higher by 0.5%.

Union leaders and Hollywood studios reached a tentative agreement Sunday to end a historic screenwriters strike after nearly five months, though no deal is yet in the works for striking actors.

A deal in the negotiations between the WGA and studios CEOs to end the nearly five-month long writers’ strike looks within sight. During the meeting Saturday at the AMPTP Sherman Oaks office, the parties appear to have untangled their stalemate over AI and writing room staffing levels. With Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Universal’s Donna Langley, Disney’s Bob Iger and Warner Bros Discovery’s David Zaslav participating from afar, attorneys are said to be deep-in working on final language for a three-year deal.

“The WGA and AMPTP met for bargaining on Friday and will meet again on Saturday,” the guild confirmed in a note sent out to members at 9:41 p.m. Friday.  “Thank you for the wonderful show of support on the picket lines today! It means so much to us as we continue to work toward a deal that writers deserve.”

The Writers Guildl of mericaA is heading back to the bargaining table with the CEOs of Netflix, Disney, Universal and Warner Bros Discovery on Friday. “The WGA and AMPTP met for bargaining today and will meet again tomorrow,” said the guild in a message to members after a long session Thursday night. Executives Ted Sarandos, Bob Iger, Donna Langley and David Zaslav are all anticipated to be in attendance Friday, along with AMPTP President Carol Lombardini and a praetorian guard of lawyers. On the other side, WGA chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman, along with David Goodman and Chris Keyser, will also be in the room at the AMPTP’s Sherman Oaks offices.

ABC may delay its scheduled premiere of Dancing With the Stars after striking writers targeted the show with pickets in recent days. One of the show’s celebrity participants, Matt Walsh of Veep, meanwhile, says he won’t take part in DWTS until the writers strike is over.

The Writers Guild and studios and streamers are set to meet again Thursday for further talks on a new contract for scribes. After a long, CEO-attended session Wednesday that one insider described as “very encouraging,” the WGA and the AMPTP will return to the latter’s Sherman Oaks offices on Sept. 21, we’re told.

The latenight TV landscape has been silenced by Hollywood strikes, leaving audiences with fewer laughs, depriving candidates of an easy way to get attention and generally upsetting the nation’s normal political discourse.

In the wake of two prominent talk show hosts reversing course on a return to work, striking writers in New York City have stepped up their picketing against a high-profile holdout: ABC’s The View. About 50 demonstrators showed up Tuesday outside the ABC television studio complex on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and urged arriving ABC employees not to cross the picket line.

Amid calls from the Writers Guild of America to push back its premiere during the ongoing writers strike, ABC and Disney+ are staying on track with plans to premiere a new season of Dancing with the Starsnext week. The show employs a crew of 500 people, and has one WGA writer on staff.

Harsh criticism from striking writers, guests bailing and 11th-hour decisions brought chaos and anxiety to productions as plans to disregard the work stoppage went up in smoke.

The Hollywood strikes and the trouble at The Tonight Show are a reminder that hosts are not just your TV friends. They’re also people’s bosses.

The broadcast network, which had several NFL matchups on its slate already for the fall, will simulcast the remaining portion of the MNF schedule (10 games’ worth) with ESPN. The move will likely increase Monday Night Football’s overall audience over games that are only on ESPN — the Sept. 11 season opener on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 drew the biggest audience since the franchise’s move to cable — and will also complete what had been a rather fluid ABC schedule for the fall, as it and other networks try to program a full week while writers and actors remain on strike.

Maher last week said he would bring his show back into production, but on Monday said he’ll wait because talks are scheduled to begin between producers and writers on Wednesday.