After five months on strike, an agreement has finally been reached between the Writers Guild of America union and the production companies association, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Five days of negotiations that culminated in a pre-agreement that still needs to be ratified, but that, barring any surprises, will put an end to the clash.
What has been achieved? The exact points of the agreement between the union and the industry are not clear, but it is known that the demands have been satisfied, at least partially: the use of AI has been curbed, the payment of residuals on trading platforms has finally been improved. streaming (additional percentages to the salary that vary depending on the success of the productions) and the “writers’ rooms” have been recovered, now in disuse but for a time essential in audiovisual production.
How does it affect viewers? Leaving aside the obvious fact that a scriptwriter happy with his working conditions is likely to produce higher quality series and films, which undoubtedly benefits everyone, and leaving aside some questions that remain to be seen (will there be more Are the platforms transparent with their audiences?), there are a couple of very clear effects that go hand in hand. The strike has generated losses of 5 billion, so we can prepare for a season of cuts. And then there are the delays and cancellations, of course. Five months are not in vain.
Who’s coming back right now. It must be taken into account that the actors’ strike continues, and at the moment it has no signs of ending: 160,000 members of the SAG-AFTRA union who demand similar aspects to the screenwriters (payment of residuals and legislation on the use of AI). Therefore, the first programs that we will see return are those that need writers but not actors, such as late-night shows. Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert or Seth Meyers will reactivate their headlines again, as will countless examples such as ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ or ‘The Talk’ during the day.
And the series? Many series that were at different points in their development, but not filming, will start up again. The actors’ strike prevents filming, but for example things like ‘The Last of Us’, ‘Billions’, ‘Stranger Things’, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, ‘Hacks’, ‘Severance’, ‘Yellowjackets’ or ‘Colegio Abbot’ They have already announced, according to the BBC, that they are returning to their individual writing processes, waiting for the actors.
…and other series that are still stopped. Among the productions that remain on hold, especially because filming had already begun, are ‘Evil’, ‘Hacks’, ‘Sandman’ and ‘Andor’. Marvel has also already announced delays for everything of its own, and it is doubtful that those series will change (or even that they will not be delayed further): ‘Echo’ has gone to January 2024, and ‘Wonder Man’, ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ and ‘Ironheart’ remain with indefinite dates. All of this pushes the spin-off of ‘Scarlet Witch and Vision’, ‘Agatha: Darkhold Diaries’ to autumn 2024. Absolute milestones of cable television such as ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ or the ‘NCIS’ franchise have also been stopped, replaced for the moment by sports, reality shows or reruns.
Delays between movies. And of course, countless movies have had their release dates pushed back: ‘Dune 2’, ‘Blade’, ‘Gladiator 2’, ‘Deadpool 3’, ‘Kraven the Hunter’, Zendaya’s drama ‘Challengers’… the The most notable case was the reboot of ‘Metropolis’ at the hands of Apple TV+ and which was going to cost 188 million dollars. It was completely canceled.
The danger of the shock wave. Now it remains to be seen how long these five months last, beyond the first impact. It is true, the scriptwriters are returning to work, but this almost half a year will not be noticed immediately: the real drought will possibly come in spring, when series and films that the scriptwriters are now resuming are still in production. That is to say, the true impact, beyond delays, will not be perceived now but in a few months, when the fruits of what has not been worked on in the last 146 days should be reaped. And that’s not counting the actors’ strike, whose negotiations are at a standstill…
Header: ChrisGoldNY on Flickr
In Xataka | The next box office bomb is not a movie, but a Taylor Swift concert that puts Hollywood in check
In Xataka | How to watch all Marvel movies and series in chronological order
