Dear Members,
In 2022, 7,000 writers answered a survey that helped form the basis of our negotiating agenda. The responses revealed the ways in which the companies have forced writers to do more work for less pay and in shorter periods of time, denying us our fair share of the tremendous value we create for the industry. It is these business practices—the creation of a gig economy inside a unionized workforce, instituted over a period where the companies earned tens of billions in profits each year—that led to our first strike in 15 years. This is what keeps us out walking the lines every day.
Throughout this negotiating cycle, writers have been sharing our personal experiences working over the past several years under unsustainable conditions. These stories highlight precisely why we are on strike and why our proposals are so critical to the future of this profession. They highlight why every proposal matters to screenwriters, to comedy-variety and other Appendix A writers, to episodic writers, to emerging writers, and upper-level writers—to all writers. While many of us have told our stories on social media, not everyone is on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok. We are now adding writers' stories to the website.
Read stories from your fellow writers about how the companies have broken the business.
Join members who have already shared their stories by sending your experience working under the problematic business practices our proposals will address to MBA 2023. We will share these stories anonymously.
Until we get the deal we deserve, let’s continue to make clear to the town why we strike.
In solidarity,
WGA Negotiating Committee