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WGA

There’s a lot of info and misinfo swirling around town one week into the strike.

Writers Strike Questions: The Netflix Precedent & The ‘Munich’ Strategy

Can showrunners be forced to work? What side are the trades really on? Will the DGA save the day? And other pressing concerns from the front lines of the writers’ strike.
Matthew Belloni & Jonathan Handel • May 8, 2023
Matthew Belloni • May 5, 2023
Harsh Realities of the Writers Strike
Are studios, like those under David Zaslav’s WBD, at least somewhat incentivized to wait out the strike?
The WGA is winning on social media, but the streamers have the upper hand, the studios are leaning on the Directors Guild, and it’s still too early for a Lourd or an Iger to intervene—meaning this situation will need to get a lot worse before it gets better.
Eriq Gardner & Jonathan Handel • May 1, 2023
Force Majeure: Inside Hollywood’s Counterstrike Strategy
A candid conversation with labor expert Jonathan Handel about the most pressing issues on the table, from the mini-room contretemps to how streamers could leverage a prolonged strike to right-size their books.
Jonathan Handel • May 1, 2023
Hollywood’s Writer Stand-off: It’s Not Just About Money
It’s also a battle over increased transparency, and the knowledge that future labor fights will be informed by the data that is currently hoarded by the studios and streamers.
Are WGA president Meredith Stiehm and guild leadership strategically trying to run up against the contract deadline?
Jonathan Handel • April 3, 2023
Decoding the Writers Strike Smoke Signals
Rumors of progress between the guild and the studios may be overstated as the two sides hardly negotiate in the negotiating room and guild leadership has leaned into a scorched-earth, down-to-the-wire strategy.
WGA West president Meredith Stiehm (pictured) and writer Michael Winship sent a rallying email to members on Monday after executive director and lead negotiator David Young took medical leave three weeks before studio negotiations.
Matthew Belloni • March 3, 2023
A Hollywood Writer Strike Setback?
The departure of the WGA’s fiery, feared chief negotiator and a key omission in the union’s demands raise questions about its leverage at an uncertain moment for the new streaming economy.
The ’07 WGA strike in Los Angeles and the accompanying solidarity march.
Jonathan Handel • February 13, 2023
What Hollywood’s Writers Actually Want
As the WGA consults its angry members on big demands ahead of negotiations, here are the likely theaters of war—and what could drive a walkout.
strike
Jonathan Handel • December 2, 2022
Iger & Optimism in Hollywood’s Labor War
A recent DGA statement and Bob Iger’s return to Disney present two critical data points in the looming battle bewitching Hollywood and the possibility of a Writers Guild strike.
David Young
Matthew Belloni • November 11, 2022
Hollywood’s Path of Mutually Assured Destruction
Writers are angrier than ever, and ready to strike. But between the industry’s streaming arms race and stock market woes, those studio water towers aren’t exactly overflowing with champagne these days. Look out below.
David Young
Matthew Belloni • June 24, 2022
Hollywood’s Writers Are Getting Ready For War
Streamers gamed the system with economic “innovations” in the Peak TV age that have worked to limit what talent is paid. Suddenly there’s a growing movement to fight back.