Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Accepting the Writers Guild of America award for original screenplay on Sunday night, Daniel Kwan skipped past the typical thank-yous to his agent and manager and instead shouted out his strike captain. “Get involved,” he told the crowd. “If you don’t have a captain yet, go find one… Let’s go give ’em hell.” It was a fitting capstone on the event, which at times felt more like a labor rally than an awards show.
The WGA is set to begin negotiations with the major studios in just two weeks, and the possibility of a writers strike may be as high as it’s been since the last work stoppage in 2007-08. “Hold out for what you deserve!” urged “The Goldbergs” star Wendi McLendon-Covey, presenting the award for drama series. “We cannot do it without you!
Hold out until the last minute!” In recent weeks, WGA officials have been tamping down the rhetoric, saying that it was premature to start talking about a strike before negotiations even begin.
But in her speech, WGA West President Meredith Stiehm addressed the negotiations head-on, saying that writers need a “sea change in our compensation.” “It’s possible it could get a little rough, a little rugged,” she said. “But we have been there before.
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