Movie, TV writers go on strike; late-night shows, soaps likely to go dark

Members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike Tuesday, immediately closing down production of some television shows, according to The New York Times.

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The WGA said the strike began as of 3 a.m. Tuesday, but picket lines will not go up until Tuesday afternoon.

The union, which has some 11,000 members, said ongoing negotiations with the studios that use their work “were wholly insufficient.”

“Though we negotiated intent on making a fair deal … the studios’ responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing,” said a statement from the union leadership.

“They have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.”

The studios said that one obstacle in the negotiations with the WGA is a request for a certain number of writers to be on a project for a certain length of time.

“The primary sticking points are ‘mandatory staffing,’ and ‘duration of employment’ — Guild proposals that would require a company to staff a show with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or not,” said the statement from management’s negotiating committee.

“Member companies remain united in their desire to reach a deal that is mutually beneficial to writers and the health and longevity of the industry, and to avoid hardship to the thousands of employees who depend upon the industry for their livelihoods.”

The writers have argued that viewing habits have changed dramatically and that has led to the rise of streaming services. Shows that are streamed often have much shorter seasons and need fewer writers, so there are fewer opportunities for writers, The Associated Press reported.

The last time the WGA went on strike was in November 2007. The strike lasted for 100 days.

Where viewers may see an immediate impact from the strike is in late-night shows and daytime soap operas. Soap operas would run out of new material after about a month, according to the Times.

During the 2007 strike, late-night hosts were off the air for two months.

According to CNN, Seth Meyers told his audience that “Late Night with Seth Meyers” won’t be on the air if there is a strike.

“If you don’t see me here next week, know that it is something that is not done lightly and that I will be heartbroken to miss you as well,” he said.

According to the AP, late-night shows at ABC, NBC and Comedy Central have announced they will begin airing reruns as the strike gets underway.

The WGA is negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, which represents Amazon, Apple, CBS, Discovery, Disney, ABC, Universal, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony and Warner Bros.