Most of us enjoy unwinding after a day's work or laughing with friends as we enjoy watching an episode (or 2 or 3 or 4) of the latest hit streaming TV show. But while
Hollywood film studios are raking in the profits off of these shows, the very people who imagine and build these fictional worlds are getting very little in return.That's why 97.85% of unionized film and TV writers voted to go on strike for better compensation, after weeks of failed contract negotiations with major studios.
Sign the petition to demand the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents most major film studios, agree to writers' demands now!Writers are the people who create content out of nothing, so that we have something to enjoy.
There's no storytelling without them! These corporations are making billions off of works that literally
could not exist without writers to envision and create them.
Last year,
Warner Bros. Discovery paid its CEO, David Zaslav, $250 million. Netflix paid its co-CEO Ted Sarandos $50.3 million in 2022 (which was a 32% jump over the previous year). Studios have dramatically ramped up their budgets for TV series, skyrocketing the money they're willing to funnel into our entertainment.
Yet that money has not translated into adequate pay for writers.
Reports show that studios are, on average,
paying screenwriters 14% less than 5 years ago (adjusted for inflation).
The Writers Guild of America represents approximately 15,000 screenwriters who give us the content necessary to produce shows like
Abbott Elementary, Big Mouth, Stranger Things, Saturday Night Live, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and more.
This is the first time writers have gone on strike since 2007, and
because they have so little left to lose, they're prepared to hold out as long as possible - meaning we could lose out on seeing our favorite shows.
So far, members of the AMPTP show little willingness to shift, with some representatives
saying that the "writers are lucky to have" their current arrangements.
But their luck doesn't seem to include being able to pay rent or mortgage. Reports show that
some writers have even needed to turn to public assistance in order to provide for themselves. As the Writers Guild of America wrote on Twitter: "Writers are ready for a deal from the studios that allows writers to share in the success of the content they create and build a stable life."
Your favorite TV show could be in jeopardy because big film studios don't want to pay fair! Sign the petition to demand that Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros, and the entire Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers agree to truly value their incomparable writers and agree to higher, fairer wages!