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Must the Writers Strike Last Six Months? 

WGA negotiating committee co-chair David Goodman.
WGA negotiating committee co-chair David Goodman. Photo: David Buchan/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
May 29, 2023

The Writers Guild strike will hit the one-month mark this week, and the two sides are arguably further apart now than when 12,000 or so writers walked out on May 2. Studio negotiator Carol Lombardini has moved on to the Directors Guild, and SAG-AFTRA has asked its members to authorize its own strike. This past week, Warner Bros. Discovery threw kerosene on the inferno by lumping writer and director credits into a catch-all “creators” category on its re-branded Max service, which drew immediate rebukes from the WGA and DGA, and a swift apology. 

I discussed that and more with WGA negotiating committee co-chair David Goodman, in an interview for The Business that I thought I’d include here. This is edited for length and clarity.