# Writers Guild of America goes on strike (5/2/23) tentative deal (9/25/23) Now accepted (10/9/23)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Tags:** ai
**Created:** [May 2, 2023, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448 "2023-05-02T04:36:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 10
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/181 "2023-09-06T16:05:45Z")
As I understand the story:
1. WGA is striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
2. _Evil_ is a show whose producers are represented by AMPTP.
3. The point of the strike is to force AMPTP to the table, by making it difficult for those represented by AMPTP to make money.
4. Pickets are a legal method to make it difficult for a company to make money.
5. WGA picketed the show.
6. There are formal avenues for producers to object to illegitimate strike behaviors, and there are formal disciplinary measures available for unions to take against members who act out of pocket.
7. Neither the production company nor the union has made any claim that this picket violated any rules or guidelines, formally or informally.
Their target is a legit target. The picket served the broader purpose of the strike. Other union members recognized both that the target was legitimate and that the picket served a legitimate purpose.
What, exactly, is the problem?
---
### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/182 "2023-09-06T16:10:53Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> Why do you say they had no legitimate business being there?
Because they’re members of the **Writers** Guild, and this production at this point had absolutely nothing to do with writing. The writing had been completed a long time ago by a husband-and-wife team devoted to the series. **Everyone involved in the production just wanted to get on with their work, on a production that was nearly complet** e. These three assholes totally destroyed the project mere weeks before its completion.
It reminds me of another union overreach, when members of a public service union launched a strike of garbage collectors in my town in the middle of a hot summer. Very inconvenient, OK, but they have their rights, and garbage wasn’t collected for weeks on end. But what really made my blood boil was that when homeowners took their own garbage to the transfer stations where the trucks would normally deliver it, these guys were blocking access, preventing citizens from even doing their own garbage disposal. Even worse, there were freelancers offering to pick up garbage for like $5 a bag, and there were stories of union thugs finding out about it and beating them up. Literally, assaulting them. Do you think there’s such a thing as union overreach?
---
### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/183 "2023-09-06T16:12:52Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> **Everyone involved in the production just wanted to get on with their work, on a production that was nearly complet** e.
Everyone except those who refused to cross the picket line.
---
### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/184 "2023-09-06T16:15:01Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> Literally, assaulting them.
We’re talking about WGA strike.
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/185 "2023-09-06T16:16:27Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> Because they’re members of the **Writers** Guild, and this production at this point had absolutely nothing to do with writing. The writing had been completed a long time ago by a husband-and-wife team devoted to the series. **Everyone involved in the production just wanted to get on with their work, on a production that was nearly complet** e. These three assholes totally destroyed the project mere weeks before its completion.
Your bolded sentence is self-evidently incorrect.
I believe you think there’s some rule that says the WGA can only picket productions for which the writing is incomplete–but this is not a real rule. The only effect such a rule would have on labor negotiations would be to limit the power of the workers; there’s no reason why workers would voluntarily adopt such a rule.
As for “these three assholes,” they were representing WGA during this picket, and there’s no sign that they’d gone rogue; you may as well say “The Writers Guild of America”–[the one representing that same husband-and-wife team](https://deadline.com/2019/06/michelle-robert-king-tv-staffing-writers-agents-fight-wga-podcast-1202638293/)–are assholes.
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> Even worse, there were freelancers offering to pick up garbage for like $5 a bag, and there were stories of union thugs finding out about it and beating them up. Literally, assaulting them. Do you think there’s such a thing as union overreach?
Hold on, I gotta think on this one, and it may take me a few days. Eventually, though, I’m going to find a difference between committing a violent crime and walking a picket line–and when I do, I’ll be able to admit that some union actions are deplorable even while approving of the picketline walkers. Can I get back to you on this one?
---
### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/186 "2023-09-06T16:41:18Z")
> [@Pleonast](#):
>
> > [@wolfpup](#):
> >
> > **Everyone involved in the production just wanted to get on with their work, on a production that was nearly complet** e.
>
> Everyone except those who refused to cross the picket line.
Everyone was perfectly willing to get on with their jobs until these three jerks made it a black-and-white “with us or agin’ us” issue. Quietly doing your job is one thing; crossing a picket line is another matter entirely. If said three jerks had never been born, this popular and highly anticipated production would have completed on schedule.
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> Hold on, I gotta think on this one, and it may take me a few days. Eventually, though, I’m going to find a difference between committing a violent crime and walking a picket line–and when I do, I’ll be able to admit that some union actions are deplorable even while approving of the picketline walkers. Can I get back to you on this one?
Hold that there sarcasm for a moment, willya? What I’m saying is that I believe that if a union has a right to strike, that means that they have the right to withdraw the services of their members for the duration. It does not and should not mean anything more than that. I know you’re probably a union member yourself and I’m sure I’d be fully sympathetic to all of your causes – but here in my jurisdiction, some public service unions are completely out of control, and I’ve become very sensitized to that. The right to strike should never equate to the right to disrupt your employer’s business in every possible way.
ETA: Also, I think this is getting off track about unions in general. Maybe we best let it drop.
---
### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/187 "2023-09-06T16:45:37Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> Everyone was perfectly willing to get on with their jobs until these three jerks made it a black-and-white “with us or agin’ us” issue. Quietly doing your job is one thing; crossing a picket line is another matter entirely. If said three jerks had never been born, this popular and highly anticipated production would have completed on schedule.
How do you know that they wouldn’t have just been replaced by three different representatives of the WGA? Did these three people have some specific beef with this particular show?
---
### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/188 "2023-09-06T16:46:57Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> What I’m saying is that I believe that if a union has a right to strike, that means that they have the right to withdraw the services of their members for the duration. It does not and should not mean anything more than that.
That’s what all union-breakers think.
Newsflash, this is a free country, and if 3 people want to walk on the street with signs, you don’t get to say they’re not allowed to do that. You don’t get to box them in and define their rights as simply “withdrawing services” while letting their employers do whatever their nimble imaginations can come up with to make that withdrawal of services irrelevant.
---
### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/189 "2023-09-06T16:52:51Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> > [@Pleonast](#):
> >
> > > [@wolfpup](#):
> > >
> > > **Everyone involved in the production just wanted to get on with their work, on a production that was nearly complet** e.
> >
> > Everyone except those who refused to cross the picket line.
>
> Everyone was perfectly willing to get on with their jobs until these three jerks made it a black-and-white “with us or agin’ us” issue. Quietly doing your job is one thing; crossing a picket line is another matter entirely. If said three jerks had never been born, this popular and highly anticipated production would have completed on schedule.
Yes, crossing a picket line is meaningful, and people have agency to do that or not. I’ve not seen any allegations of coercion or illegal activity. Just workers on strike picketing and others workers choosing to respect that picket. For some reason you’re angry at the picketers, but not those who do not cross a picket line.
I don’t think it’s fair to the WGA to blame them for the actions of other unions and other strikers.
---
### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/190 "2023-09-06T17:36:44Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> How do you know that they wouldn’t have just been replaced by three different representatives of the WGA?
I don’t. What I know is that _Evil_ was very popular and highly acclaimed, **[with a 95% rating on RT](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/evil)**, and was declared by TV Guide to be **[the best show on TV](https://www.tvguide.com/news/features/evil-best-show-on-tv/)**. Its funding from CBS Studios and Paramount+ for 36 hour-long episodes so far plus the aborted fourth season has to be substantial. So it’s not exactly obscure. WGA has 20,000 members, WGA East has well over 5,000. Of those, three assholes showed up and scuttled the entire season’s production.
> [@Cheesesteak](#):
>
> That’s what all union-breakers think.
You think I’m a “union-breaker”? I’m just an ordinary citizen living in a particularly liberal community where certain unions – public service unions in particular – have been allowed to get completely out of control. I realize this is going to get pushback from those in completely different political environments where public service unions and others are being weakened and dismantled. Neither extreme is good for the public.
Anyway, hopefully enough about unions now and back to the WGA specifically, whose strike I do support.
---
### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/191 "2023-09-06T17:39:15Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> You think I’m a “union-breaker”? I’m just an ordinary citizen living in a particularly liberal community where certain unions – public service unions in particular – have been allowed to get completely out of control.
Forget it Jake, it’s Uniontown.
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/192 "2023-09-06T17:42:37Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> What I’m saying is that I believe that if a union has a right to strike, that means that they have the right to withdraw the services of their members for the duration. It does not and should not mean anything more than that.
> …
> ETA: Also, I think this is getting off track about unions in general. Maybe we best let it drop.
Yeah, you’re at least the second person who’s come into the thread whose claims about how unions _should_ work are fundamentally at odds with how unions _do_ work, and indeed how unions _must_ work if they’re to have real power.
There’s a name for a strike that’s polite and doesn’t disrupt an employer’s business: a failed strike.
It’s difficult to discuss this particular labor action when there’s such widespread misapprehension of labor actions in general. It’s as if someone comes into a thread on California’s best sushi restaurants to declare that fish shouldn’t be eaten raw. How do you respond to their posts without a general discussion of food safety?
But I do agree that inasmuch as explaining why your objections are without merit requires explaining how strikes work, it may not be possible to offer such an explanation here.
---
### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/193 "2023-09-06T17:55:54Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> You think I’m a “union-breaker”?
I’m saying your stated position is #1 with union breakers.
They say they’re totally fine with unions, as long as union activity falls within a particular set of guidelines.
> [@Navin R Johnson](#):
>
> Anything below the stereo and on this side of the Bicentennial glasses. Anything between the ashtrays and the thimbles. Anything in this three inches. Right in here, this area, that includes the Chiclets but not the erasers.
A particular set of guidelines that ensures any union action is ineffective, because union activity is bound while union busting activity is wide open. Anything an employer can imagine that makes a union ineffective is fair game, because it’s just good business.
As a “management” person who works in an industry tied to the Longshoreman unions, I appreciate the fact that unions can get out of hand. However, those situations are the exception not the rule, most unions are fighting for basic lifestyle needs rather than exorbitant slush funds.
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/194 "2023-09-06T18:05:09Z")
Here’s a thread where we can take the more general discussion of union actions.
> [@Labor 101, or why strikes are okay](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/labor-101-or-why-strikes-are-okay/989700):
>
> In a thread about the [WGA strike](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23/983448/192) (edit: and [in a related thread about the SAG-AFTRA strike](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sag-aftra-strike-is-a-go/987002/238)), there’s a lot of disagreement over what unions can and should do. The problem is that a lot of the objections to WGA and SAG-AFTRA actions are, as far as I can tell, based either on ignorance of how labor unions work, or a bone-deep objection to the idea of effective organized labor. But figuring out why exactly people are objecting–ignorance, or antipathy to labor–was getting us pretty far away from the…
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/195 "2023-09-06T18:32:01Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> I don’t.
Then why do you keep asserting it like you do?
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> What I know is that _Evil_ was very popular and highly acclaimed…
So what? What does the quality of the show have to do with the legitimacy of union activity around it? Should only “bad” shows be picketed?
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> WGA has 20,000 members, WGA East has well over 5,000. Of those, three assholes showed up and scuttled the entire season’s production.
How many people needed to show up for the Union action for them to not be assholes? Five? Fifty? The whole 5000-strong membership?
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/196 "2023-09-06T19:06:21Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> So what? What does the quality of the show have to do with the legitimacy of union activity around it? Should only “bad” shows be picketed?
I think the quality has a lot to do with the legitimacy. Specifically, the better and more popular the show, the _smarter_ it is to shut it down. Same thing with the number of picketers: the smaller the number of picketers, the _more effective_ the action.
Strikes should be uncomfortable and inconvenient. Shutting down a major production with three guild members is freaking _awesome_: it shows the power of solidarity and flexes the union’s might. If this is what WGA can do with a picketing trio, imagine what they can do with fifty members!
---
### Author:  [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2023, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/197 "2023-09-06T19:14:30Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> imagine what they can do with fifty members!
They may think it’s a movement.
---
### Author:  [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2023, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/198 "2023-09-11T23:23:04Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#):
>
> The thing is, the WGA wants to get on this early before it’s too late to draw the boundaries. Someday, of course there will no longer be any boundaries, but in the meantime–“an ounce of prevention” and all that.
THAT!!
and my WAG is that - today the guild still can do it from a relative position of strenght, vs. 3 yrs down the road, when most of the B and C shows will be scripted by AI already (and none of those brilliant Geraldo/Oprah/DiGeneris/et al. watchers will notice).
---
### Author:  [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2023, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/199 "2023-09-12T01:21:18Z")
Drew Barrymore has announced that her talk show will return without a writing staff. WGA workers are planning to picket her studio.
> **[Drew Barrymore to return amid writer's strike. Which other daytime talk shows...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2023/09/11/drew-barrymore-show-returns-amid-wga-writers-strike/70822981007/)**
>
> Drew Barrymore is resuming her daytime talk show despite no sign of a writers' strike settlement. Now other talk shows are plotting returns.
---
### Author:  [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2023, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-guild-of-america-goes-on-strike-5-2-23-tentative-deal-9-25-23-now-accepted-10-9-23/983448/200 "2023-09-12T03:06:55Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> But here’s what happened with _Evil_. The writers, Michelle and Robert King, had been finished with the script for a long time, and in fact, filming was nearly complete in May for the scheduled summer release. SAG-AFTRA was two months away from their own strike. So what was the problem? What happened?
> [@](#):
>
> So it’s not exactly obscure. WGA has 20,000 members, WGA East has well over 5,000. Of those, three assholes showed up and scuttled the entire season’s production.
…I only just saw this now: but I can’t really allow this to stand. Those “three assholes” didn’t scuttle the entire season’s production. That isn’t how things work. For starters: from your cite:
> [@deadline](#):
>
> And there will be no more filming for the upcoming fourth season as production is wrapping early. Timing is suspect in light of the ongoing [WGA strike](https://deadline.com/tag/wga-strike/) **but sources stress that the decision was made due to a personal family matter involving one of the actors on the show, affecting their availability to complete the scenes.**
It’s right there in black and white.
But secondly:
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> What happened was that three WGA activist jerks set up a mini picket line and managed to halt production for six hours, **while the crew waited patiently** and didn’t want to cross the “picket line”, if that’s what you can call three hooligans with no legitimate business being there. **Eventually the crew gave up.**
What actually happened:
> [@deadline](#):
>
> “Three WGA members and a few allies are still walking the line in front of Brooklyn Stages in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where _Evil_ is supposed to be filming, and workers from IATSE are still **refusing** to cross the picket line,” the person said after 10 PM ET last night.
Do you see the word “refusing” there? That means workers from the IATSE had _agency_. It wasn’t as if the people on the picket line set up an invisible barrier and members of the IATSE had no choice but to “wait patiently” then gave up. They didn’t cross the picket line because _they didn’t want too._
Because the IATSE will be going into contract talks in 2024. And the studios have played their hand already. The studios have given the finger to the writers and to the actors and they sold the directors a lemon. They will give the IATSE the finger as well. So come 2024 the IATSE will be expecting the writers and the actors to have their backs.
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> I don’t. What I know is that _Evil_ was very popular and highly acclaimed, **[with a 95% rating on RT](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/evil)**, and was declared by TV Guide to be **[the best show on TV](https://www.tvguide.com/news/features/evil-best-show-on-tv/)**. Its funding from CBS Studios and Paramount+ for 36 hour-long episodes so far plus the aborted fourth season has to be substantial.
This is just a weird argument. Because you do know what the writers are fighting for, right?
Because if the studios get their way, then the writers/showrunners, Michelle and Robert King, probably won’t ever again get the sort of agency or autonomy to write a show like _Evil_ ever again. The studios want to _break_ the writers room. They want to shift the showrunner responsibilities from the writers to the producers, _smash_ the size of the writers room so that all of the burden goes on the “head writers” with the slack taken up effectively by interns and AI. They’ve already slashed many writers rooms, effectively turning them into “gig economy” workers.
You love the show Evil? Disappointed that the 4th season is going to be delayed? If the strikes fail, you’ve probably seen the last, great era of TV before most of it turns into “content.” From yesterday:
> [@David Zaslav](#):
>
> “One of the other real strengths of Warner Bros. is we talk about the great IP that Warner Bros. owns,” Zaslav said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference. “But, for us, the challenge is that **our content** , our great IP — “Harry Potter,” DC, “Lord of the Rings” — that **content** has been underused.”
> **[WBD Head David Zaslav Warns 'Harry Potter' and 'Lord of the Rings' as...](https://www.thewrap.com/warner-bros-discovery-harry-potter-dc-lord-of-the-rings-underused/)**
>
> Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav singled out "Harry Potter," "Lord of the Rings" and DC as three "underused" properties.
These are the genius’s running the studios now. They aren’t in the film and television business any more. They are in the “content creation” industry. Think I’m kidding? Look what they tried to do to the HBO app:
> [@NPR](#):
>
> Previously, names of writers, directors and producers had been listed in separate categories. But Max, which combines content from Warner Bros. Discovery’s platforms HBO Max and Discovery+, **lumped them together under a new “creators” category.**
[Writer and director credits lost in switch from HBO Max to Max will be fixed : NPR](https://www.npr.org/2023/05/25/1178308448/hbo-max-discovery-credits#:~:text=Television-,Writer%20and%20director%20credits%20lost%20in%20switch%20from%20HBO%20Max,move%2C%20the%20streaming%20giant%20apologized).
The people running the studios don’t care about good stories. They’ve memory-holed entire productions that will never ever see the light-of-day again, taken shows off the air after being on air for a few months. Its just content now. The only thing that matters any more to them are the shareholder reports. They are, completely, 100%, unreservedly, the bad guys here. And if you’ve got a problem with Evil being delayed for a few months then it rests at the feet of the _AMPTP_, not three random “WGA activist jerks.”
If you want to know more about why they are on strike, here is noted writer of the acclaimed TV show _Evil_ with a few thoughts:
> [@Robert King](#):
>
> Fascinating article in Variety about so-called “fuck-writer-rooms;” I mean, “mini-rooms.” They are the worst thing possible for writers, undercutting above-minimum pay, and moving creative leverage from showrunners to non-writing producers.
>
> …
>
> #3: Showrunner-based solutions: showrunners should insist on real “rooms”—paying full freight for writers—not mini-rooms—leveraging a writers love for a project, or their employment status, to get them cheaper.
>
> [@Robert King](#):
>
> Bullshit. A strike is not an instrument of socialism. It is an instrument of capitalism: a way to force reluctant Owners to pay more to Labor.
>
> Diller knows that. But he’s just saying this to create a class division among labor.
>
> [@Robert King](#):
>
> Scab is not a contractual or legalistic term. It is a colloquial term to define someone who helps Management break a strike. So it doesn’t seem a mistake to call a Soap writer who has gone Fi-Core a scab. If you’ve gone Fi-core to write during a strike, you are a scab.
>
It seems like Robert King has some strong feelings about the strike.
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