TV and film writers hit the picket line
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2023
⏱️ 26 minutes
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Summary
Television and movie writers kicked off a strike this week after negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and Hollywood producers went sideways. Today we dig into why writers such as Josh Gondelman are hitting the picket lines.
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Late-night shows are on hiatus. Movie scripts might not have anyone to write them. And it’s all because at least 11,000 Writers Guild of America union members started striking this week. Writers are fighting for better pay in the streaming age and protections from the use of artificial intelligence.
Reporter Anne Branigin explains the stakes of this massive strike, the first in 15 years. The last time it happened in 2007, Hollywood felt the impact for months, with an estimated $2 billion in losses for the industry. In 2023, the technology might be different, but the demand is similar: financial stability.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Eli. |
| 0:04.3 | I just wanted to drop you a quick note to say hello and also introduce you to an amazing |
| 0:10.0 | new guest host you'll hear over the next few weeks. |
| 0:13.7 | His name is Anahado Connor and he's a columnist for the Post's Well-Being Dask. |
| 0:18.4 | I'm so excited to welcome him to the show, hear his questions and the stories he's interested |
| 0:24.1 | in chasing. |
| 0:25.5 | You'll still be hearing from me and our other great colleagues, but for now, I'll let Anahado |
| 0:30.5 | take it from here. |
| 0:31.9 | Or as long as he could remember, Josh Gondelman dreamed of being an actor. |
| 0:37.6 | When I was a kid, I would act in school plays like in high school and I would write for |
| 0:43.2 | the school variety show and that was always a lot of fun, but I would act in the plays |
| 0:47.7 | too and I remember my late grandmother said to me once after seeing me in a play, you |
| 0:53.3 | really more of a writer than an actor and that was kind of a hint. |
| 0:58.6 | Years later, he did become a writer for television. |
| 1:02.1 | I wrote for four seasons for last week's tonight with John Oliver on HBO and I was a writer |
| 1:11.1 | and producer and eventually the head writer of Deezus and Merrill on Showtime. |
| 1:15.2 | And those were like, that was my big implement. |
| 1:17.4 | I did some like consulting work on the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but like the bulk of my like |
| 1:21.1 | staff writing and like writer producer work has been in late night. |
| 1:29.6 | But writing is on pause for now for Josh and more than 11,000 other television and film |
| 1:34.9 | writers. |
| 1:35.9 | This week, a lot of TV and film writers have been out on the picket lines specifically |
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