Why The Writers Strike Against The Alliance Of Motion Picture And Television Producers

On May 2nd, 2023 the Writers Guild of America went on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The main reasons for the strike is because of the unhealthy workplace and unfair wages that writers have to live with. Producers tend to see creating content as something just to make money, not to spread entertainment and actual creativity. Producers use cheap methods in creating content in order to make shows and movies be released faster in order to reach more people to make more money without paying their writers Fair wages. In 2007, the writers strike wanted to raise the funding for writers in smaller businesses compared to a more renowned studio. In order to achieve this, “The writers put down their pens for 100 days, costing the Los Angeles economy some $2.5 billion”(EBSCO). Similarly to the Lawrence Textile Workers in Voices of a People's History in the United States, The Producers make unimaginable amounts of money and don't pay their workers a fair wage. Writers face competition even though they “have the right to lead decent and honorable lives” (Voices,

The WGA is protesting for better wages and improvements in their working conditions. On top of this, they are protesting against the use of AI to replace the union workers. Using AI to create shows makes the plot and character development predictable and cliche. Considering both the working conditions and pay, “These writers are paid the minimum salary for those days and then are promptly let go after the first drafts are done” (Meyrat, rlo.action.org). This is called a mini room, it's a room where writers are paid to write the basics of an entire season of a show or movie in a short amount of time. Producers encourage “mindless content creation” (Meyrat, rlo.action.org) by reducing pay and not providing a healthy