The Writers Guild of America continued on Tuesday to border its arguments upfront of bargaining, placing out a report that maintains that writers are “falling behind” within the streaming economic system.
The report follows one other memo to members final Friday, which argued that leisure firms stay extremely worthwhile general, regardless of incurring heavy losses on their streaming platforms.
The latest report focuses on business tendencies towards shorter TV seasons, which the guild says has depressed writers’ wages. In comparison with a decade in the past, the WGA additionally says {that a} larger proportion of writers are working for guild minimums.
“The businesses have leveraged the streaming transition to underpay writers, creating extra precarious, lower-paid fashions for writers’ work,” the report concluded. “Our 2023 negotiations should considerably handle author compensation.”
The full variety of scripted TV reveals, together with broadcast, cable and streaming, has more than doubled within the final decade. Over the identical interval, the full variety of employed writers has elevated by almost 30%, in keeping with guild knowledge.
Whole author earnings are additionally up considerably, rising greater than 50% from 2011 to 2021, in keeping with the guild’s knowledge. Common earnings per author are up 19% during the last decade, however they’re flat when inflation is factored in.
The WGA report doesn’t cite these figures, however refers as a substitute to median weekly pay for writer-producers. Based on the report, that determine has declined by 4% in a decade, or 23% when listed to inflation.
The guild states that the share of writers incomes minimum salaries has additionally elevated from 33% to 49% since 2013.
The report additionally notes that higher-paid writers are seeing their weekly pay decline as episode orders shrink and manufacturing schedules lengthen, as a result of they’re paid by the episode.
Writers who make lower than $400,000 a 12 months on most varieties of reveals are coated by “span safety,” which mandates that an episode charge cowl not more than 2.4 weeks of labor. The guild argues that the higher-paid writers must also take pleasure in that safety.
“With lengthy manufacturing schedules, these writers discover their episodic charges quantity to little greater than weekly scale when stretched over so many weeks,” the report states.
The report argues that minimums for screenplays are “far too low.”
The newest report doesn’t handle two key points for upcoming bargaining: room dimension and streaming residuals.
The union and the Alliance of Movement Image and Tv Producers exchanged proposals on Monday, and are set to satisfy face-to-face subsequent week. The present contract expires on Might 1.
