The Writers Guild of America officially went on strike on Tuesday after negotiations broke down with The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, who represent studios, television networks, and streaming services.
Writers pay has drastically decreased since residual checks started drying up with the proliferation of streaming services, while CEO salaries skyrocketed. The WGA is demanding better compensation for writers who have been living paycheck to paycheck. “On TV staffs, more writers are working at minimum regardless of experience,” the WGA said in a bulletin last month.
On top of wage increases, the union is also fighting for strict regulations of AI technology in the face of growing fears that the new technology will take jobs away from screenwriters.
In the face of the battle against the AMPTP, some of the biggest LGBTQ+ stars are voicing their solidarity and helping to raise awareness and garner support for the writer’s union.
Director Lily Wachowski posted the protest song ‘There is Power in a Union’ by Billy Bragg and has been retweeting WGA posts making clear where her allegiance lies.
https://t.co/OhZv0u0uE8
— Lilly Wachowski (@lilly_wachowski) May 2, 2023
⚡️✊🏻⚡️
Comedian and actor Wanda Sykes tweeted a photo of herself on the picket line and, in a clear reference to the 2008 writers strike, captioned the photo “Here we go again!”
Here we go again! #wgastrong pic.twitter.com/9hCG61CHj0
— Wanda Sykes (@iamwandasykes) May 2, 2023
Steven Canals, the writer and director of Pose, has been posting about the strike for the last few days, including being critical of the potential use of AI.
I love how the studios are like, “nope, don’t wanna regulate AI. But we’ll schedule a meeting.” Didn’t they do the same thing yrs ago with the internet, and now look where we are with streaming… #iguesshindsightisnt2020 https://t.co/qnuevTWT6D
— Steven Canals (@StevenCanals) May 2, 2023
Saturday Night Live and Fire Island star Bowen Yang – who we’ve loved since his hilarious takedown of Ron DeSantis on SNL– has been showing his support of the WGA in his Instagram stories.
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Bowen Yang’s Fire Island co-star Joel Kim Booster has also shown their support on Twitter by taking aim at the CEOs whose ever-growing salaries are in stark contrast to the paychecks writers receive. “CEOs are high-level button pushers who create nothing and make millions doing it,” he wrote. “You should take that personally.”
CEOs are high level button pushers who create nothing and make millions doing it. You should take that personally. https://t.co/qaECr4zlLp
— Joel Kim Booster (@ihatejoelkim) May 2, 2023
Mayfair Witches star Jen Richards tweeted an infographic to point out the hypocrisy of the studio executives whose salaries have soared while writers struggle to pay their rent. “These guys want to get rewarded for making rich shareholders even richer,” she wrote.
Film and television can give us a sense of what's possible, remind us of horrors we dare not repeat, and is often the way many of us first discover ourselves. I LOVE writing, telling stories, giving hope. These guys want to get rewarded for making rich shareholders even richer. pic.twitter.com/CxxmtpZ3FC
— Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) May 2, 2023
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner – best known for Angels in America – joined the picket line and told Deadline, “It’s the shortsightedness and the greed and the absolute indifference to the lives of the people that create the product that enriches them is really appalling. It’s disgusting.”
Dia Disasupil/Getty Images
