Hollywood Writers Strike 2017 News Details, Shows Affected: Late Night Talk Shows To Be Hit Most
Due to a majority vote, labor unions that represent Hollywood writers authorized a strike that is set to begin next week and is endangering numerous show business productions for the first time in decades.
The leaders of the Writers Guild of America (both from the East and West chapters), announced the authorization, with 96 percent of its 6,310 eligible members voting "yes" for the strike.
In a union email, leaders of the Writers Guild said that they "are determined to achieve a fair contract" for the benefit of their members.
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Among the concerns demanded by members of the union are better and fair compensation across all writers who are either working for streaming, cable and broadcast services, plus a health care benefit program, which is a major concern for all workers under the Hollywood industry.
"If you look at the budgets of television shows, the part allotted for writing is generally 2 percent," Howard A. Rodman, president of the Writers Guild (West chapter) said in an interview.
In addition, most writers are currently paid less, with networks ordering fewer episodes compared to before.
Although there seems to be a surge of TV shows and series because of new streaming platforms like Netflix, production companies are however ordering only 10 episodes per season compared to the 22 episodes before. This hurts writers who are paid only by episode.
However, most production studios contend that they themselves are facing an unknown future with new competitors that offer on-demand viewing (such as Netflix and Amazon), which now hurts cable profits.
Despite that, some media tycoons were reportedly paid well such as CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, who received a 22 percent increase in 2016 despite the network's low performance.
Shows that will immediately be affected by the strike are late-night talk shows such as "Saturday Night Live" and NBC's "Tonight." Either these shows will resort to reruns or the hosts will simply adlib on new episodes
Movies, however, might not be immediately affected since the production of such usually take around three years, but it may affect movie franchises that already have to work with a pre-set timeline.
