The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike finally came to a close on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, as the union leadership voted to end the writer’s strike. On October 9th, the contract with WGA members was ratified. But what does the writer’s strike mean for writers in the industry?
The writer’s strike went on for over 148 days and affected both television shows and movies. Many studios had to close their doors from writing, could not have communication between writers and actors while on set, and big studios could terminate production deals. This was highly influential to people whose work was being a writer like J.T. Rogers.
J.T. Rogers is an award-winning American playwright and screenwriter, TV and Film Producer, and show runner for HBO Max’s Tokyo Vice starring Ansel Elgort. Rogers’ Tony award winning play, Oslo, has been turned into a movie on HBO Max starring Andrew Scott.
When the strike began in May of 2023, Rogers was the showrunner for Tokyo Vice and was working on the second season. He was finishing the later versions of the second season’s scripts and was lucky enough to be able to keep shooting the show. However, because of the strike he could not say anything to his actors on set and make any alterations to how the actors performed. Many shows and movies in production during the beginning of the strike were not as lucky, as “roughly 80 percent of scripted television productions” were shut down, according to estimates by John Koblin from the New York Times. Many writers had to take time off from working and were unemployed.
Now the actors are working out a resolution for a strike. This has affected television production, actors’ social media presence, people working, and more. In the next weeks, months, and years, people will hopefully strike a deal to make a living wage. As of October 27th, 2023, negotiations have continued, but talks of a deal are still ongoing. Actors and writers are all laborers whose jobs are on their lines, even the top actors and actresses seen in major works, have their paycheck determined by strikes. The future will hopefully look like people striking more deals for their work. Rogers comments that, “[he] hopes to have Film and Television shows not just focused on superpowers.” The entertainment industry is going to be changed by the amount of strikes.
Barely anything is in production right now as large production companies are struggling to fill people’s screens for the upcoming winter season. Many production companies have to take cost-conscious measures by making layoffs, cutting media outlets, travel, and more.
The general public may seem like it was a mess getting to the resolution of the writers’ strike today, but Rogers says, “It always [felt] like a roller coaster, but it [didn’t] always feel like a roller coaster when we were doing it.”