Well, now that I'm officially on strike, let me say a few things. This is my fifth strike since I joined the Writers Guild in 1976. For the record, the previous four were in 1981, 1985, 1988 and 2007. The issues were different in each strike but in a sense, they were all the same: The old contract was expiring and the alliance of the major producers were using the need to arrive at a new contract as an opportunity to achieve two closely-related goals…
- To lower what they paid us for our work…or to at least not give us an increase that kept pace with inflation and the rising cost of living and…
- To establish that we — and the directors, actors and everyone else — would get the smallest possible share of the revenues being generated by new income streams and new forms of technology. At the moment, that's mainly streaming but in past strikes, it was the increase of new cable channels, the sales of programming on videotape and (later) LaserDiscs and DVDs, etc.
There are frequently other issues and while some of them matter, a lot of them are things the producers are quite prepared to drop if they can achieve the two above goals. A frequent negotiating tactic they love is to offer us a really, really, really awful deal (three reallys) and then, if/when we refuse to swallow it, they'll drop one really in the hope that we'll grab the really, really awful deal (two reallys) thinking we've won something.
Already, I'm seeing angry posts on message boards from folks who work in the entertainment industry but who are not writers. They're angry because they know production will slow to a trickle and some of them will be laid off or not hired. Too many of them leap to blame "greedy writers" instead of producers who want everyone to take less. I wish more of those folks would understand that if we get rolled back, everyone will eventually get rolled back. These strikes are never just about one labor organization's compensation.
I was quite active in the '85 and '88 strikes. I am not as active in the Guild now. I support it wholeheartedly but I'm still learning about the specific details and terms in the current action and I know very few folks in the present Guild leadership. Ergo, this blog may not be the place to find out what's happening on the inside. If you want to keep on top of that, you may need to find another source.
What I can tell you is that I've lost money and opportunities in each past strike. In '81, I walked out on one of the best-paying TV jobs I ever had. In '85, the strike collapsed quickly due to a rift in the Guild and a lot of members who literally — and I'm not making this up — insisted there would never be any money in the sale of movies and old TV shows to be watched at home. That year, the Writers Guild gave up on getting a meaningful share of that revenue and, of course, that led to everyone who didn't own or run a studio getting only a teensy share of those riches.
In '88, the studios attempted to better their win in '85 with another shitty offer and it took the longest strike in Hollywood history — 22 weeks! — to get them to give us an acceptable offer. That year, I had a script I'd written for a hit TV show not get filmed because of the strike and a screenplay I was writing for a major movie studio get shelved. I forget what I lost in 2007 but I know there was something. And I have a project now which may be impacted by the current impasse.
I have never regretted any of those strikes. Show business obviously pays quite well at times — well enough to sometimes make up for the times when we don't get hired and what we're selling goes unpurchased. I believe it would never pay well for those who fall outside the categories of Owners and Management if labor unions like the Writers Guild of America were unwilling to say no to bad offers. What we walked out on an hour or so ago seems to be a very bad offer.
In the interest of Full Disclosure, I have other things to write that will not be affected by the strike. I learned long ago that a writer needs to diversify and not be at the mercy of any one source of income. Still, I stand to lose in many ways with this current strike as do a lot of people before this nasty business is over. It's just that when you go through as many strikes as I have, you learn that if you take a bad offer this time, you just get a worse one the next time out. And a worse one after that and a worse one after that…