Teresa Huang is a member of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. She held a special K-Pop day at the queue point outside Universal Studios this week.
Mandalit del Barco / NPR News
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Teresa Huang is a member of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. She held a special K-Pop day at the queue point outside Universal Studios this week.
Mandalit del Barco / NPR News
it was one month since film and television screenwriters started attacking Hollywood studios, hoping for a new contract offering higher salaries, more redundancies, regulations on AI, ensure a minimum number of employees, among other requirements. On the picket line, morale remains high.
Teresa Huang, a writer and actress who stopped working on a Netflix show when the strike began, said: “A month later, we’re still going strong. Our passion is ours. I haven’t decreased at all.” “We are preparing to go into the summer to continue the strike until a fair deal is reached.”
Huang, who is also a member of SAG-AFTRA, held a special K-POP themed performance outside Universal Studios. There have been other select line-themed days, including singles events, Greta Gerwig appreciation days, Pride and drag queen days, and shows’ authors reunions like emergency and different interstellar travel series. The WGA has a running schedule of all special days.
Cheech Manohar is the WGA offensive captain and a member of SAG-AFTRA. “We knew we were fighting for justice. And a month later, with the money the studios had lost, we knew it wasn’t just a matter of wages. It was also a matter of protection and power.”
Mandalit del Barco / NPR News
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Mandalit del Barco / NPR News
Cheech Manohar is the WGA offensive captain and a member of SAG-AFTRA. “We knew we were fighting for justice. And a month later, with the money the studios had lost, we knew it wasn’t just a matter of wages. It was also a matter of protection and power.”
Mandalit del Barco / NPR News
Cheech Manohar, a WGA strike captain and member of SAG -AFTRA, says events like this keep the writers’ spirits up. “We knew we were fighting for justice. And a month later, with the money the studios had lost, we knew that this wasn’t just wages. It was protection and power, ” I said. “We recognize that the studios can end this any time they want if it’s just for the money. But in reality, it’s about maintaining a system that can continually undervalue the studios. There is a certain amount of power and a certain amount of greed that they are not willing to give up.”
During the early stages of the strike, AMPTP said it presented the WGA with a proposal, which included a “generous increase in writer compensation as well as improvements to streaming balances.” According to that statement, the studio’s union told the WGA it was prepared to improve that offer “but was unwilling to do so because of the importance of other proposals that remain on the table the association continues to make.” steadfastness.”
Actors, Teamsters, Hollywood production workers, and others joined prominent writers on the fence, with their union leaders swearing in solidarity. Teamster drivers turned around from the studio entrance to avoid crossing the line, and some production is said to have been disrupted because of the strike.
In May, the president of the Western Writers Guild of America, Meredith Stiehm, sent a letter to Netflix and Comcast investors, asking them to vote against pay packages for top executives . On Thursday, Netflix shareholders did just that, in a non-binding vote against the compensation structure for executives, such as co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
Meanwhile, the American Association of Directors continues to negotiate to sign a new contract with AMPTP. And the actors in SAG-AFTRA will begin contract negotiations next week. Contracts for both DGA and SAG-AFTRA will expire at the end of June.
