Writer's Guild Strike of 2023 - Fuck these people

[Positron]

E-begging must go on!

 

[Ralph Barnhardt]

E-begging must go on!
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I could maybe understand people in the industry donating to help their fellow industry workers. However this isn't just any industry. This is Hollywood and the people who are keeping their fellow workers from working are the fucking writers who are 100% in it for themselves. Whatever money some grip gives them is just more time that that grip is not working and is losing money. Donate to the strike and you get what you fucking deserve.

 

[NoodleFucker3000]

In the words of Dave Chapelle:

GET A JOB.

 

[Polyboros2]

The longer it takes for the deal to be made public, the more excited I get that it's a shit deal for the writers.

Now I just have to hope it's so bad they can't force them to swallow it and the strike goes on for as long as possible

 

[Random Internet Person]

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

I could maybe understand people in the industry donating to help their fellow industry workers. However this isn't just any industry. This is Hollywood and the people who are keeping their fellow workers from working are the fucking writers who are 100% in it for themselves. Whatever money some grip gives them is just more time that that grip is not working and is losing money. Donate to the strike and you get what you fucking deserve.

Lol yep. The writers can start working at 12:01am PST 9/27/2023, however they massively fucked over EVERYONE in Hollywood for almost 5 months.

The longer it takes for the deal to be made public, the more excited I get that it's a shit deal for the writers.

Now I just have to hope it's so bad they can't force them to swallow it and the strike goes on for as long as possible

Yep, I have a feeling that they got extremely little and the retarded members might actually vote to strike again.

Plus no actors lol so the other part of Hollywood is still fucking itself over. Have fun writing for non-existent shows and movies that can't be filmed.

 

[Pig Cups]

What a bummer. I was enjoying the strike, and I'm sad to see it end.

Anything that impedes the flow of more mediocre, pozzed "entertainment" into society is good in my book.

 

[ScatmansWorld]

WGA contract summary was released.
https://www.wgacontract2023.org/the-campaign/summary-of-the-2023-wga-mba
(archive)

 

[Alter Ego]

WGA contract summary was released.
https://www.wgacontract2023.org/the-campaign/summary-of-the-2023-wga-mba
(archive)

It appears that the WGA got what they originally wanted concerning AI. The one part I'm unclear on is how this agreement's statement, "The WGA reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law," compares to the original demand, "MBA-covered material can’t be used to train AI." But like I said, this could simply be the studios being fine with waiting three years for the AI tech to develop while they run internal experiments in the meantime.

It's a little confusing to parse, but it appears that while there will be some minimum writer staffing, it comes out to being about half of the original demand in the number of writers, but twice the minimum duration of employment. "Unless a single writer is engaged to write all episodes."

I'll wait for better analyzers to tell what to make of this outcome.

Yep, I have a feeling that they got extremely little and the retarded members might actually vote to strike again.

Extremely unlikely that the vote rejects the agreement. Everything is already moving to go back to normal (sans the SAG-AFTRA strike), and the WGA leadership is clearly encouraging members to accept it.

 

[Byte Doctor]

Well looks like the schedule of getting more slop will continue. I'd say the show of the strikes was more entertaining than the shows they write.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

WGA contract summary was released.
https://www.wgacontract2023.org/the-campaign/summary-of-the-2023-wga-mba
(archive)

Some choice highlights:

We have established regulations for the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) on MBA-covered projects in the following ways:

• AI can’t write or rewrite literary material, and AI-generated material will not be considered source material under the MBA, meaning that AI-generated material can’t be used to undermine a writer’s credit or separated rights.
• A writer can choose to use AI when performing writing services, if the company consents and provided that the writer follows applicable company policies, but the company can’t require the writer to use AI software (e.g., ChatGPT) when performing writing services.
• The Company must disclose to the writer if any materials given to the writer have been generated by AI or incorporate AI-generated material.
• The WGA reserves the right to assert that exploitation of writers’ material to train AI is prohibited by MBA or other law.

9. Increased Compensation for Series Employment: Weekly Pay and Staff Writer Script Fees

• Weekly Pay Increases: The minimum weekly rates for staff writers and Article 14 writers (story editors/executive story editors) will increase by the overall minimum increases (5%-4%-3.5%). The increases for staff writers go into effect immediately; and those for story editors/executive story editors go into effect the Sunday after ratification.
• Writer-Producer Weekly Rates: There will be a new writer-producer tier (co-producer level and above) that has a higher minimum weekly rate, amounting to a 9.5% premium over the story editor/executive story editor rate. These rates will go into effect for new seasons that start 60 days after ratification.
  

  Writer-Producer Weekly Minimums
  Term of Employment	Year 1
  Up to 9 weeks	$11,371
  10-19 weeks	$9,476
  20 weeks+	$8,524

• Development room premiums: Writers of any title working in pre-greenlight rooms of at least 3 writers—including a pre-greenlight room between seasons of a show—will be paid premium rates up to guarantees of 19 weeks. If writers are guaranteed 20 weeks or more the premium doesn’t apply. The development room rates will be 25% above the highest regular room rate. These rates will go into effect for new contracts beginning November 1, 2023 assuming ratification in October.
  

  Development Room Premium Rates up to 19 Weeks
  Title	Year 1
  Staff Writer	$6,959
  Story Editor/Executive Story Editor	$12,978
  Writer-Producer	$14,214

• Staff Writer Script Fees: Staff writers must be paid script fees for the episodes they write.

10. Staffing and Duration Provisions for Episodic Series

Development rooms (aka pre-greenlight rooms) and regular writers’ rooms for television and HBSVOD series will now have requirements regarding the minimum number of writers who must be hired and the duration of their employment. These new provisions go into effect for seasons where the first episode is written after December 1, 2023 assuming ratification in October.

• Development rooms: Once 3 writers are convened before a series order, at least 3 writer-producers (including the showrunner) are guaranteed 10 consecutive weeks of employment.
  
  Development rooms where writers are guaranteed 20 weeks of work or more are treated as post-greenlight rooms. For these rooms on first season shows, the minimum staff size required will be 3 writer-producers (including the showrunner). For these rooms in the second or subsequent season of a show the required minimum number of writers is determined by the anticipated episode order.
• Post-greenlight rooms:The following requirements are triggered depending on the number of episodes ordered, unless a single writer is engaged to write all episodes:
  

  # of Episodes	Minimum # of writers in writers’ room	Minimum # of Writer-Producers in writers’ room
  6 or fewer	3	3
  7-12	5	3
  13+	6	3

  The minimum staff must be guaranteed at least 20 weeks or the entire duration of the post-greenlight room, whichever is shorter. If there was a development room, the two writer-producers who worked in the development room must be hired for the writers’ room. Weeks worked in the development room can be credited against the guaranteed weeks in the writers’ room, but development room compensation cannot be credited.
• Writers in Production: For single-camera series made for HBSVOD and Pay TV that are exclusively filmed in the US and Canada, 2 writer-producers must be employed for the lesser of 20 weeks of production or the duration of production along with the showrunner. The two writer positions can be used for more than two writers provided that the total weeks worked by the additional writers adds up to the minimum required number for each position.

16. Other Changes (Company Proposals)

• We agreed to increase the number of episodes on new made for broadcast series that can get a single free “promotional” run from 2 to 3, but with the number of episodes capped at no more than 25% of the season;
• We agreed that the companies can exhibit a longform program made for HBSVOD in theaters for not more than 8 days, at least 40 days after the program’s release on the original streaming platform, for 3% of accountable receipts;
• We agreed to a 3% increase in the thresholds for payment of the 1.2% residual for foreign free television reuse;
• We agreed to allow a company to credit a sole writer/director or writer/producer of a project as “produced by” or “presented by” in publicity releases or advertising without a separate writing credit;
• We agreed that interest isn’t due when writers haven’t provided the information necessary to process payment.

In conclusion, I’m still not quite sure what there is to learn from all of this. Mostly, if not virtually, people stopped caring about the strike even after the demands were about to be (somewhat) met.

 

[Positron]

The deal.

 

[Get the rope Macaulay!]

Maybe i'm just being dumb but they're so obsessed with the AI bullshit they don't realize that they're still fucked on streaming residuals. The books don't have to be opened and they're getting a 12% increase over the next 3 years, which is a bit less than double what they usually get, without striking for 5 months. the minimum writers i guess helps with the pre-dev rooms but i have a genuinely hard time believing shows before now had less than 9 writers for a series with over 13 episodes. from what i've seen these minimums aren't really that big of a deal, like stranger things had 7 writers for an 8 episode series. outside of the UK you almost never see writers knocking out all the episodes and you'd be surprised how many writers most of these rooms have. its almost theoretically impossible to have less than 9 writers for a 13 episode series, even Aaron Sorkin employed roughly that many. which means these minimums don't mean shit for any tv show aired on actual television. So writers room bullshit just fucks streaming shows, AI is a pipe dream and they didn't get residuals and they got less than double what they wanted for COL increases which is fucking amazing during COVID.

Overall these guys didn't get shit. The only reason they hate AI is because AI won't fistfuck tv series with trannies and abortions like the writers will.

 

[Ralph Barnhardt]

While I would've preferred Hollywood burning to ground and it's ashes scattered into the wind I can take solace in knowing that plenty of the writers lost almost everything and possibly will not be able to get new work for a few months more.

This is interesting.

A quarter of a million dollars for training in basic management. I'm unclear if this is for the writers or just in general. Even the writers think they're being mismanaged. My mind instantly goes to the first guy I highlighted in the OP who went over time and over budget for his coming of age, teenage lesbian show. If only he had proper training his show about a teenage girl's sexual awakening and stepping into dykedom wouldn't have had so many problems and he wouldn't have had to steal kombucha to feed his newborn daughter.

 

[dustbuster]

well.. fuck..
The strike is over and now we get shitty noise cluttering up our entertainment cycle again.
I can't wait for black George Washington on Netflix.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

On one hand I hate the writers more than the movie studios, on the other hand, not accepting new technology is the hallmark of a soon to die industry.

Also can't wait for the next hypocritical movie plot of "oh those evil right wingers hate AI and are against progress, while us liberals are all for love and progress".

 

[grapeshark77]

This deal is not particularly great, at least not "five months of striking" great. Most of it is better than nothing - the pay increases are tiny, the AI language is vague, and it looks like the minimum staffing will benefit those with experience while leaving younger writers locked out (maybe a good thing, if those younger writers are the ones contributing to the general blandness of TV). The entire thing is based on how many episodes are ordered, so they'll just order 8-10 episodes to save money.

Huge compromises are part of any deal, but stuff like sharing the streaming numbers, *actual* minimum staffing, etc got thrown out. As was mentioned, the residuals should have been the biggest part and they basically got what the DGA got.

 

[Get the rope Macaulay!]

the deal the writers took is literally the same one that was offered 6 weeks ago, and again the residuals are still shit. the studios whole "we'll starve them out" strategy worked overall. People are way too obsessed with the AI bit, as if any intelligent person would want a writer raised on netflix shows. The greatest simpsons writer of all time never watched films or movies, he read books, and if you ask other simpsons writers or well known comedians, actually being influenced by the writing in domestic film and tv is pretty rare comparatively.

These dumb fucks seriously think an AI tasked with writing say a Halo tv show would need to be trained on Will&Grace episodes instead of any of the halo extended universe literature.

 

[Your Starter for 10]

The hilarious part is that the studios can still clearly use AI, they just have to pay some WGA faggot scale (which is nothing) to wrangle it, and they get a credit for it. So some studio head's nephew sells a spec script (that may or may not even exist) to get his WGA card and then becomes the AI guy for the studio. They literally just made it easier and cheaper for a studio to use AI.

 

[oh no its pipkun]

A lot of the bargains are aimed at streaming only platforms like netflix and amazon. weren't those two cutting back on productions and budgets before the strike?

Will NBC, CBS, HBO, Disney will start airing their onlind shows to avoid the Streaming Only clause?

I cant tell if this is a major victory or a small win for the faggots.