Thousands of screenwriters went on strike overnight after six weeks of negotiations for a new film and scripted TV contract came to a stalemate.
The existing contract between the Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — which includes Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony — officially expired at 12 a.m. PT, kicking off the walkout.
Writers have been seeking a major overhaul in compensation for streaming residuals, as well as higher pay overall, greater protections and a solution to the increase of “mini-rooms” in which a small grup of writers pen multiple scripts for a show’s potential first season prior to production beginning.
As Deadline notes, both the WGA and the AMPTP agree that despite a content boom in recent years, writers are bringing in less money overall. Ideas on how to fix the problem, unfortunately, is where the conflict originates. “WGA proposals would gain writers approximately $429 million per year; AMPTP’s offer is approximately $86 million per year, 48% of which is from the minimums increase,” the guild said, according to the outlet. The impact of the strike will be felt immediately. Aside from picketing — which will begin on Monday afternoon — production on daily late-night shows including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Daily Show will shut down immediately, with networks airing reruns.
Saturday Night Live confirmed hours after the wave of late-night announcements that it had canceled that upcoming weekend’s episode hosted by Pete Davidson with musical guest Lil Uzi Vert.
“I support my writers,” Fallon, who is also an SNL alum, told NBC News Monday on the 2023 Met Gala red carpet. “We have a lot of staff and crew that will be affected by this but, you know, they got to get a fair deal.”