Jacobin Radio: Writers Guild Strike w/ Howard Rodman

Jacobin Radio

Jacobin

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4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2023

⏱️ 38 minutes

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Summary

Howard Rodman, former president of the Writers Guild of America West (WGA), joins Alan Minsky to discuss the Writers Guild strike, which began a minute after midnight on May 2, after a near unanimous strike vote on May 1. This strike action, the first in fifteen years, impacts TV, movies, and streaming platforms across the country and the world. The last strike, in 2007-08, lasted 100 days and focused on "new media" when streaming was in its infancy and Netflix was still a DVD-by-mail company. This time, the key points are: residuals, preserving the writers room (ending the practice of so-called mini-rooms), viewership transparency (writers want ratings data and not algorithms), and protections regarding AI. As Rodman says, the strike is about a whole constellation of issues which, taken together, create an existential threat to the ability of writers to earn a decent living. There is a lot of public support for the writers, but the distance between the writers and the studios is very far apart. The writers are saying don’t use these new technologies to pay us less for more work. We get Rodman’s take on what is at stake.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Jockebin Radio. I'm Alan Miskey sitting in for Susie Westman. On this
0:17.9	week's show, we're going to talk about the ongoing writer's strike and the TV film
0:21.7	and streaming industries with Howard Rodin. Howard is the former president of the writer's
0:26.8	Steel of America West, which is basically the Hollywood local of the Union that is of
0:32.1	course on strike now. Howard is himself an accomplished TV and film writer as well as
0:37.4	the author of a pair of parallel to novels. This is a very important strike. Corporate
0:43.4	America's dead set, I'm gigifying another high-profile industry. Unfortunately, the workers
0:49.6	in the Union are having none of it. So stay tuned. Howard Rodin's going to summarize
0:54.4	the story and explain all of the subtex right here on Jockebin Radio.
0:58.5	Hello everyone, I am Alan Miskey and I am sitting in for Susie Westman and I am joined
1:12.4	now by dear friend of Susie and a great presence on the Los Angeles Literary and Labor
1:19.8	scene. Howard Rodin, Howard is a screenwriter, author and professor. He is the former president
1:26.6	of the writer's Guild of America West, a professor and former chair of the writing division
1:31.6	of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, alumnus of the Tell Your Ride Association summer program
1:37.4	and an artistic director of the Sundance Institute screening labs. Welcome Howard Rodin.
1:43.0	And thank you Alan. I'm very happy to be here and of course we are joined by Howard
1:47.6	today because we once again have a writer's strike. Of course, it's concentrated in New York
1:52.8	City, New York Metro and out here in Los Angeles. I think 10 to 11,000 writers are on strike.
1:59.4	The writers go voted on May 1st, I believe, near unanimously to go on strike. And it seems
2:06.0	right now that the distance between the writer's position and the studio's position is very
2:12.7	far apart. Howard, why don't you give us the lowdown on where it's in stand in terms
2:17.2	of why the writers have chosen to go on strike for the first time in 15 years?
	...

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