The writers’ strike is on.<\/p>\n
No one wanted this — no writer with an ounce of sense, anyway — but the producers and the studios and the networks and the streamers gave us no choice.\u00a0\u00a0 The Guild negotiated right up to the final deadline on May 1, but it takes two to tango.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the waning hours of May 1, the Writers Guild of America declared a strike.\u00a0\u00a0 The action began on May 2.\u00a0\u00a0 There are pickets in front of every studio lot and sound stage in LA, and many in other cities as well.\u00a0\u00a0 Get used to them.\u00a0 I expect they will be there for a long time.<\/p>\n
I am not in LA, so I cannot walk a picket line as I did in 1988, but I want to go on the record with my full and complete and unequivocal support of my Guild.<\/p>\n
How long will the strike last?\u00a0\u00a0 No idea.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe the AMPTP members will come to their senses tomorrow and offer some meaningful concessions, and the whole thing can be wrapped up next week.\u00a0\u00a0 I would not bet the ranch on that, however.\u00a0\u00a0 I have been through several of these since I first started writing for television and film in 1986.\u00a0\u00a0 The 1988 strike, the first I was a part of, lasted 22 weeks, the longest in Hollywood history.\u00a0 The 2007-2008 strike, the most recent, went for 100 days.\u00a0\u00a0 This one may go longer.\u00a0\u00a0 The issues are more important, imnsho, and I have never seen the Guild so united as it is now.<\/p>\n
Writers’ strikes tend to be longer than other labor actions.\u00a0\u00a0 That’s the nature of the beast.\u00a0\u00a0 My father was a longshoreman.\u00a0 When the ILA went out on strike, work on the docks shut down at once.\u00a0\u00a0 The ships did not get unloaded.\u00a0\u00a0 The trucks did not move.\u00a0\u00a0 The cranes froze in place, the fork lifts stayed where they were when their drivers walked off, the bananas rotted in the holds.\u00a0\u00a0 It does not work that way with writing.\u00a0\u00a0 Everyone has seen this storm coming a long way off… and accordingly, studios and streamers and networks\u00a0 have been stockpiling scripts for months.\u00a0\u00a0 As of May 2, the pens are down and the computer screens have gone dark all across Hollywood, but production will continue so long as there are scripts to shoot.\u00a0\u00a0 The proviso being, of course, that those scripts must be shot EXACTLY as they were as of midnight on May 1.\u00a0\u00a0 Not a word can be changed, cut, added, not a scene can be altered.\u00a0\u00a0 All that requires writing… and from now until the strike ends, the writers will be on picket lines, not on sets.<\/p>\n
(Many of you will be wondering, rightfully, about the impact of the strike on my own shows.\u00a0\u00a0 The second season of DARK WINDS wrapped several months ago.\u00a0\u00a0 Post production has been completed on five of the six episodes, and will soon be done on the last.\u00a0\u00a0 The show will likely air sometime this summer on AMC.\u00a0\u00a0 No decision on the third season will be made until after the strike.\u00a0\u00a0 Peacock has passed on WILD CARDS, alas.\u00a0\u00a0 A pity.\u00a0\u00a0 We will try to place it elsewhere, but not until the strike is over.\u00a0\u00a0 The writer’s room on A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS: THE HEDGE KNIGHT has closed for the duration.\u00a0\u00a0 Ira Parker and his incredible staff of young talents are on the picket lines.\u00a0\u00a0 Across the ocean, the second season of HOUSE OF THE DRAGON started filming April 11 and will continue in London and Wales. \u00a0 The scripts for the eight s2 episodes were all finished months ago, long before the strike began,\u00a0 Every episode has gone through four or five drafts and numerous rounds of revisions, to address HBO notes, my notes, budget concerns, etc. \u00a0 There will be no further revisions. \u00a0 The writers have done their jobs; the rest is in the hands of the directors, cast and crew… and of course the dragons).<\/p>\n
((Some of you, I fear, may be having anxiety attacks just now, on the mistaken assumption that this strike affects WINDS OF WINTER.\u00a0\u00a0 You can relax.\u00a0\u00a0 The WGA is a union of film and television<\/strong> writers.\u00a0 It has nothing to do with novels, short stories, or any other form of prose fiction, nor comic books and graphic novels, nor stage plays, nor the editing of collections and anthologies \u00a0 I have on-going projects in all those areas, and that work continues unabated.\u00a0 And WINDS continues to be priority number one)).<\/em><\/p>\n I am not going to try to explain the issues at stake here on my Not A Blog.\u00a0\u00a0 Others have done that far better than I could.\u00a0\u00a0 Whistle up Google and you will find dozens of stories on the internet detailing what the Guild is asking for on behalf of the writers it represents.\u00a0\u00a0 The details are there, for those of you who are interested in going more deeply into the disputes.\u00a0\u00a0 Needless to say, money is a big part of it.\u00a0\u00a0 The move from broadcast and cable to streaming has severely impacted residuals for writers (and directors and actors as well). \u00a0 Television seasons have been shrinking; from 22 episodes on network, to 13 on cable, to 10, and now to 8 and 6.\u00a0\u00a0 Since writers are often paid by the episode, that’s hurt too.\u00a0\u00a0 Writer incomes are down across the board.\u00a0\u00a0 The details are in the news stories.<\/p>\n And there are other issues, one of which I think is especially important.\u00a0\u00a0 So important that I think it deserves its own post.\u00a0 Look for that tomorrow.\u00a0 For today, let me close by saying I am very heartened by the support we’ve received from the Teamsters and the other unions, and from many individual members of SAG and the DGA as well.\u00a0\u00a0 I hope we will have the support of all of you reading them as well:\u00a0 the viewers, the fans, the people we are making these shows for.<\/p>\n It could be a long fight, but with you on our side, we cannot lose.<\/p>\n