WGA Seeking Overhaul Of Pay Scales In Contract Talks With Producers

deadline.com:

Saying that “writers are not keeping up,” the WGA said today that its upcoming negotiations for a new film and TV contract “must significantly address writer compensation.” The talks are set to begin March 20, and the current contract expires May 1.

Based on today’s bulletin – the third this month – the WGA is not seeking a mere adjustment in the way writers are paid but a complete overhaul of the pay scales it had bargained for with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers in recent years. “Driven in large part by the shift to streaming, writers are finding their work devalued in every part of the business,” the guild said. “While company profits have remained high and spending on content has grown, writers are falling behind. “The companies have used the transition to streaming to cut writer pay and separate writing from production, worsening working conditions for series writers at all levels,” the WGA added. “On TV staffs, more writers are working at minimum regardless of experience, often for fewer weeks, or in mini-rooms, while showrunners are left without a writing staff to complete the season.

And while series budgets have soared over the past decade, median writer-producer pay has fallen.” For feature film writers, the guild said, the collapse of the DVD market “drove the studios to focus on tentpole features, depressing employment for screenwriters in the period 2008 to 2015.

Streaming has increased demand for feature-length films, with movies now a key part of streamers’ original content lineup, but the variety of release strategies has created uncertainty about the contract terms applicable to writers on these projects.” The guild’s research shows that “writers earning less than $150,000 for a