WGA strike averted! New deal will secure shows like SNL, Walking Dead
Multiple parties confirm that a last-minute dead has been struck overnight that gives the Writers Guild of America three more years in order to continue to tell great stories across our favorite medium, one that will offer them potentially better health care and help to resolve the rise of short-order seasons. Many writers get paid on a per-episode basis, and with that, it’s been rather hard for writers to earn a living working on shows that run for a much shorter time than 15-22 episodes. These are very complicated issues, and we don’t want to minimize them by just narrowing them down to two things. Nonetheless, this deal should resolve some of the issues; maybe there are compromise elements, but there always are in these sort of situations.
Above all else, we do want to congratulate everyone within the WGA for getting a chance to continue doing what they love. Nobody wanted a strike, and it’s nice to see that there won’t be one provided the deal goes through without any further issues. This is progress that writers get further recognition for their invaluable work; we cherish their words, and often they are taken advantage of by productions, networks, and even fans.
What this effectively means now is that it is business as usual. Late-night TV and Saturday Night Live were set to be the first shows impacted, but they will continue as though nothing has transpired at all. Meanwhile, this also means that shows like The Walking Dead won’t have any issues in their production schedule, which is happening across the late spring / early summer. It would’ve taken several weeks before a strike started to show strain on the upcoming fall season, at least to the public. Behind the scenes, that may have been a different scenario.
The last time there was a major strike was back during the 2007-08 season, where there were multiple months in which there were struggles for a deal to get done. We’re thrilled to see this issue avoided now.
Be sure to share your thoughts on this story below. Now, we’re going to go to sleep knowing that things in the industry won’t be changing too much. (Photo: WGA.)