As the US writers strike enters its third week, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has released estimates suggesting that its proposals for a new contract would cost the US industry $429m a year, an amount that is “modest compared to industry revenues and profits.”
In a message to Guild members, the WGA negotiating committee said studios and streamers “have made billions in profit off writers’ work, and they tell their investors every quarter about the importance of scripted content. Yet they are risking significant continued disruption in the coming weeks and months that would far outweigh the costs of settling.”
The message included a chart showing what the proposals tabled by the WGA when contract talks ended would cost the eight companies that are writers’ major employers.
In total, the eight companies would have to pay writers an additional $343m, according to the Guild. The annual cost to Disney would be $75m, said the Guild, representing 0.091% of that company’s revenues. Netflix would have to pay out an additional $68m, representing 0.214% of revenues. And Warner Bros Discovery would need to pay an extra $47m, or 0.108% of revenues.
The Guild statement contrasted the estimated costs of the proposals with the “tens of billions…spent on the programming writers create.”
There was no official response to the Guild statement from the studios and streamers’ negotiating body the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), though studio sources have questioned how the figures were derived.
In other strike-related developments, the Daytime Emmys ceremony set for June 16 has been postponed due to the strike by organiser the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (which operates independently of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, whose Primetime Emmys ceremony is currently set for September 18).
Last week the American Film Institute (AFI) postponed its tribute to Nicole Kidman on June 10 because of the strike.
Meanwhile, television series that have already been affected by the strike, according to reports, include: Yellowjackets, where work in the third season writers room has been halted; Netflix’s Stranger Things, where production on the fifth season has been delayed; and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel, which has closed its writers room.
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