More on the WGA

Here's a question I received this morning and thought was worth answering in public…

If there's a strike, how deep does it hit? Would it be TV and Movies only, or comics and other products as well (since DC is owned by Warner Bros…etc.)?

A Writers Guild strike, if there is one, would only impact television and motion picture production, and not even all of that. The WGA represents writers in certain areas and signs contracts with employers in those areas. There has been no real unionizing of comic book creators, and I doubt there ever will be. Animation is divided up. There is some totally non-union production which would never be stopped by any strike. There is animation where the writers are covered not by the Writers Guild but by The Animation Guild, Local 839 of I.A.T.S.E. (here's that union's website) and there would only be a work stoppage there if called by 839. Then the Writers Guild covers some cartoon shows — mostly prime-timers like The Simpsons — though I believe some of those are on a separate contract that, unlike the main WGA pact, has not expired. If the show or studio is under the main contract, it would be affected.

Non-union movies and non-union TV shows would not be affected. There are also shows that profess to be "writerless," including most reality shows and game shows. In truth, a lot of these shows do employ writers, many of them WGA writers, but they call them "producers" or "segment producers" and claim that what they write, though it may look like a script, really isn't one. These shows would probably not be affected. One of the outstanding issues in the recent negotiations has been that the WGA wishes to expand its jurisdiction in areas like animation and "reality shows" and the studios, for obvious reasons, are resisting.

Warner Brothers, like all the major studios, is a signatory to the WGA Minimum Basic Agreement covering television and motion pictures. WB is signed to Local 839 in the area of animation.