The Guilded Age

Why the future’s at stake in the Hollywood writers strike

Adam Burch

The series finale of Lost stunk!

Why am I mentioning the finale of a television show that aired almost 15 years ago in a 2023 law journal article? I mention it because the sojourn of the survivors of Oceanic 815 on that mysterious island ended with a whimper and not a bang in large part due to a major strike by the members of the Writers Guild of America, or WGA, in 2007. And because a similar major strike by Guild writers is happening again.

Cue ominous music: “Bum, bum, bum!”

Love’s Labor’s Lost – Some Background

The WGA and the major TV and film studios have a collective bargaining agreement, which they call the Minimum Basic Agreement, or MBA. The most recent MBA expired on May 1, 2023.[1] The MBA governs writers’ minimum payrates, also known as scale, and is negotiated every three years with the studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP. The industry has seen dramatic shifts in how audiences consume media since the last strike in 2007. Reeling from those changes and a little something called COVID-19, both sides are adamant about their needs: the studios for more revenue, the writers for better pay. Long-time Democratic strategist and television pundit James Carville once said:

“...Outside of a person’s love the most sacred thing they can give is their labor. Labor is a very precious thing you have and any time you can combine labor and love you’ve really made a match.”[2]

Nothing could be truer for artists who often struggle financially and must love their artistic passion enough to pursue it professionally. Writers are not often thought of as providing services like factory workers; however, much like employees on an assembly line, they work long hours to bang away on laptops to craft scripts that actors, directors and other craftspeople bring to life. This effort is so viewers can tune in weekly to watch Meredith Grey and her colleagues solve the illness of the week amid their tumultuous love lives. Advertisers buy airtime so that audiences captivated by Dr. Grey’s exploits stay tuned during commercial breaks to be influenced to buy products. That traditional model is an industry that generates billions of dollars annually.[3]

Management always has an incentive to maximize the company’s profits, whether the company produces widgets or The White Lotus. One straightforward way to keep profits up is to hold costs down and pay those who make the product less. Therefore, there is constant tension between management and workers, who want to get paid as much as they possibly can. Labor unions, comprising workers who have banded together to negotiate and enforce contracts with management, help workers get paid. Employment contracts guarantee things like raises, healthcare, job security and a stable schedule, and the Guild’s MBA is no exception.[4]

The WGA traces its origins to 10 angry screenwriters in 1921.[5] Back then, film studios announced wage deductions for writers, and those writers formed the Screen Writers Guild in opposition. In 1933, the Screen Writers Guild affiliated itself with the Authors Guild to expand its membership. In 1954, this coalition merged with five other groups to create the WGA, which was divided into two branches: East and West. The WGA describes itself as the premier labor union for writers and has collectively represented professional writers throughout America ever since.[6]

One prime bargaining chip that a labor union has in any negotiation with management is the withholding of their labor. This is also known as a strike.

Past is Prologue

WGA writers have gone on strike at least six times throughout their history to fight for better earnings. The 1988 and 2007-2008 strikes lasted, respectively, 153 days (still a record) and one hundred days.  In both cases, residuals were a key issue driving the writers.[7]

Residuals are payments from studios to writers for repeated exploitation of their work—reruns, in laymen’s terms.  Residuals first became an issue with off-network television syndication in the 1950s. In this practice, broadcast networks pay a studio for a license to air one of the studio’s popular shows on local stations, usually after the studio has produced four or five seasons’ worth of material.[8] The networks would re-air the show numerous times, but the writers who worked on the show wouldn’t get paid beyond what they earned during the show’s original run.

Residuals were concocted as the solution. The studio derives revenue by licensing the show to other networks, and residuals allow the show’s writers to make a percentage of that revenue each time the episodes they wrote air. The MBA dictates the amounts the writers are to be paid in residuals.[9]

As we will see, residuals are again at play in the latest version of the conflict, this time in the forming of streaming.

The Last Great Strike

The 2007 strike led to an economic loss of approximately $2.5 billion.[10] The writers’ MBA was up, but so were the agreements that governed minimums for the Directors Guild of America, or DGA, and the two then-separate actors’ unions, the Screen Actors Guild, or SAG, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or AFTRA.

At the time, I was not a WGA writer, but I was an actor in a writers’ group with many WGA members. The Guild members asked us to stand up and fight alongside them for a better deal. They wanted a show of solidarity with picket signs outside each studio lot advocating “fair pay for writers.” Hundreds of writers, my group included, answered the call.

Most television shows at the time were affected. Seasons were shortened. Some writers’ rooms switched to non-Guild writers. And there was an explosion of unscripted television. Lost had a truncated season and an entirely new writing staff when it eventually came back, which affected the direction and quality of the show. Meanwhile, the viewing public was subjected to rerun after endless rerun.[11]

The writers dropped their main request for residuals from DVD sales, which were outperforming theatrical releases in terms of revenue at the time. They also surrendered their demand for authority over reality TV and animation. As a result, the writers’ position within the industry was diminished. However, they did stick to their guns on one key point: ensuring that streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime would have to hire WGA writers when they began to create shows.[12] Whether this move was prescient or simply fortuitous, DVD sales are a thing of the past, and streaming is again at the forefront of negotiations.

The 2007 strike changed the landscape of the industry indirectly too. For example, although actors had picketed in solidarity with the writers, the writers wanted to get back to work and did not support the actors’ unions in their negotiations. This eventually set the stage for the joining of the two unions into SAG-AFTRA.[13]

The Four Ps

Once again, the WGA, DGA and SAG-AFTRA will be negotiating their agreements with the studios in the same year—the DGA and SAG-AFTRA contracts are up in June. WGA negotiations are likely to impact the other unions and the industry as a whole this time too. The most recent conditions and events that impact the current negotiations are what I call the four Ps: Packaging, Payouts, Pandemic and Power.

Packaging

The WGA recently won a two-year legal battle against their agents over so-called packaging deals. In the practice of packaging, agencies attached famous directors and actors whom they represented to their writer clients’ projects, and, in return, the studios paid special fees directly to the agencies.[14]  In 2019, the writers filed lawsuits against the agencies for breach of fiduciary duty and fired their agents en masse in retaliation for the agencies collecting those fees without cutting the writers in.[15] In addition, the writers argued that their agents failed to negotiate in the writers’ best interests by selecting talent the agents also represented rather than searching for the best talent for a given project.[16] Agents may now still package a project but can only collect their customary 10% commission on their clients’ earnings—not a big package fee from the studio.[17] More importantly, the writers are emboldened by the win and more ready to continue to challenge the Hollywood establishment.

Payouts

Another recent victory by the writers came against Netflix late last year. Under the current MBA, residuals for feature film writers are typically 1.2% of the license fee that the streamer paid to the producing studio for the right to distribute the film.[18] However, a streamer such as Netflix is often both producer and distributor—so there is no license fee. Instead, to calculate the residuals, Netflix estimates what license fee they might have paid an outside producer for a comparable film. In some cases, Netflix was underestimating the number, and in August 2022, an arbitration ruling awarded 216 writers of Netflix films $42 million in unpaid residuals, and the Guild subsequently pursued about $13.5 million in interest for overdue payments of those residuals.[19] As a result, the writers may feel that they are in an even better position to play hardball with streamers.

Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic forced an industry-wide shut down. Subsequent inflation across the globe has affected the cost of everything in the U.S. economy. Companies such as Disney and Universal, which generate substantial revenue from movie and theme park admissions, suffered billions lost to their bottom lines.[20] The studios have not fully recovered from those losses or from the major industry shifts the pandemic accelerated.[21] In the bargaining process, the studios will likely rely on these economic losses to justify their positions.

Power

The industry has also seen massive consolidation in the last few years. The number of power players involved has changed, causing studios to effect mergers with each other. Disney bought 20th Century Fox and its accompanying IP to the tune of $71.3 billion.[22] AT&T solidified its merger with Time Warner,[23] then AT&T spun it off and merged the company with Discovery, causing investor upheaval.[24] Warner Bros. ended up laying off hundreds of workers and then canceled and wrote off $2 billion in content due to merger costs.[25] Moreover, these companies’ CEO chairs have also seen rapid turnover.[26] Consequently, the studios may argue that they simply do not have the capacity or stability to pay more money to the writers.

Enter the Streaming Wars

All these recent pandemic-accelerated changes were mainly caused by one thing: the rise in streaming. Technology has changed how people consume media and sparked a race to capture viewership on streaming platforms through content supremacy. It will be the most important part of the ongoing negotiations.

The Studios

The previous decade saw the launches of new streaming platforms by old-time industry players in the form of Disney+, Paramount+, HBO Max and Peacock. Tech companies such as Amazon and Apple also entered the game. Building, marketing and releasing these platforms cost their respective studios a great deal of money. Also, last year, reigning streaming behemoth Netflix reported a loss of over one million subscribers, its first loss in viewership in two decades, due to the new competition.[27]

While studios have spent billions to launch their platforms, they’ve also spent greatly to produce the content for them as well. Amazon purportedly commissioned The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for Amazon Prime at the cost of a whopping $700 million, though the actual number might be closer to a billion.[28] Disney spent $100 million on The Mandalorian to kick off Disney+.[29] Warner Bros. spent $70 million to remake Justice League to launch HBO Max.[30]

However, none of these new platforms has been profitable yet. Their average revenue per user is somewhere between $6 and $16 per month, depending on the platform.[31] This is not enough to provide the return on investment, even in the cases where users can pay less for the streaming service if they agree to the inclusion of advertisements. The bottom line is the studios need to make these shows for less money.

The Writers

Meanwhile, streaming has also changed the writers’ position in the industry. A standard show on a broadcast network would usually have 20 to 22 episodes per season. A staffed writer could expect to work perhaps 40 weeks of the year. A streaming show may have as few as six episodes a season, so staffed writers need to find multiple gigs to make what they once did.[32] That means more competition for fewer positions.

The Legal Framework

So, the MBA is up, and a strike is on. Unstoppable force meets immovable object. How it turns out will be up to a confluence of factors, perhaps including the current anti-labor climate in the U.S. judiciary.

The National Labor Relations Act, or NLRA, governs the legality of any strike.[33] The NLRA protects employees’ rights to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining.[34] The NLRA limits the right to strike by prohibiting strikes during the term of a collective bargaining agreement, unless the parties have failed to negotiate a new agreement.[35] Accordingly, the WGA went on strike at midnight on May 2, just hours after the previous MBA’s May 1 expiration.[36]

An anti-labor sentiment has been prevalent on the Supreme Court in the last 20 years and has been emphasized in the Court’s new conservative super-majority decisions. In 2017’s Epic Sys. Corp. v. Lewis, a conflict between the NLRA and the Federal Arbitration Act, the Court ruled that employees who have signed arbitration agreements were not allowed to collectively pursue litigation as part of a class action, even if they contended that the arbitration agreement was inherently unfair.[37] Then, in 2018’s Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31 and again in 2021’s Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, the Court made further rulings that diminished the power of unions.[38]

Manny Pastreich, president of the Service Employees International Union, SEIU Local 32, sees this as a pattern: whenever labor-management issues have appeared before the current Court, laborers’ rights have been limited. On the Strict Scrutiny podcast, Pastreich described these cases as limiting the rights of states, limiting protections for workers, and limiting access to union organizers, respectively.[39]

This year, again, the Court will hear arguments in a labor case, Glacier Nw., Inc. v. Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters Local Union No. 174.[40] In Glacier, a company that sells and delivers ready-mix concrete lost product when its truck drivers went on strike and the concrete hardened.[41] The company brought state tort claims in Washington against the drivers, and the court ruled that the company’s claims were preempted by federal labor law that protected activities during a sanctioned strike.[42]

When the Supreme Court hears the case later this year, they might decide the opposite: that state law isn’t preempted. If so, an employer who suffers damages during a strike might be able to sue the employees for their loss. According to Pastreich, this is extremely important:

“...it basically is changing the balance of power. So, now [the employees] have less ability to make a fair trade, to get that raise, to win that health insurance, to protect the benefits that [they] or [their families] depend on.”

Any decision may depend on the Court’s definition of damages. Whenever there is a strike, it can be presumed that there is a loss because the labor isn’t being performed. In Glacier, the Washington court considered that there was no damage to physical equipment, just the concrete.[43]

What the conservative super-majority Supreme Court will decide is difficult to predict. If the Court overrules the precedent and says that labor is responsible for damages suffered during a strike, including loss of revenue because employees are not working, it will mean a loss of leverage for workers in bargaining. Could unions like the WGA potentially be sued simply for striking?

Dinner Time: What’s on the Table

In March, the WGA released an approved pattern of demands that it planned to discuss with the AMPTP.[44] Later, just after the strike went into effect, the WGA released more specifics on these demands from the initial round of negotiations.[45] I have grouped the key issues into five main areas: increased pay and residuals, staff size and mini writers’ rooms, span protection, exclusivity and artificial intelligence.

Increased Pay and Residuals

Increased pay and residuals are a no-brainer for the Guild, as writers’ main priorities all involve better compensation. Show budgets exploded with the proliferation of streaming platforms, but writers feel their pay rates did not increase commensurately.

Angelina Burnett, a member of the WGA’s board and negotiating team, wrote in her board election campaign materials that the industry has experienced a “downward pressure” as more and more Guild writers are working “at or near minimum.” To counter the trend, Burnett also hopes to “negotiate favorable conditions for writers’ agents to bargain for much higher overscale compensation.”[46] Burnett’s comments suggest that the Guild will fight to raise the scale rate but also the number of writers that the studios will employ at higher, over-scale rates.[47]

The problem for the WGA here is two-fold. First, streaming platforms struggle to turn profits, as discussed above. The second issue is that studios have been secretive with their streaming data. This weakens writers’ bargaining positions when they negotiate raises in between seasons of a show.  Without a sense of whether their show is a successful, how can writers on hit shows negotiate for raises commensurate with their value to the platform? According to Burnett, data transparency could be one of the major negotiating points bargained on in the coming weeks, and a strike may be the only way to achieve it.[48]

The battle to convince studios to release their viewing data will be hard-fought because of its impact on residuals as well. Before streaming, residuals used to be much easier to calculate. It was known how many times a particular episode re-aired. Now, however, streaming platforms do not disclose their data on who is watching what and for how long.  Instead, residuals on high-budget streaming shows are calculated according to a complicated formula based on the number of the platform’s subscribers and how long a given show has been on the platform.[49]  But if there were more data transparency, writers might demand that residuals get calculated according to simpler metrics, such as viewing hours, that actually indicate a show’s popularity.

As of May 2, the WGA and AMPTP appear to have agreed to in principle to increased base pay and even an increase in the current residuals formula—but viewership-based residuals and related data transparency issues remain unresolved.[50]

Staff Size and Mini-Rooms

The advent of streaming has also led to smaller writers’ rooms and a new practice known as the mini-room.

Traditional broadcast television followed a predictable process: development, then a pilot order, then a season order that consisted of approximately 22 episodes. Streaming shows altered that process, as studios like Netflix ordered straight-to-series shows that were only six to ten episodes a season. The new paradigm attracted big-name showrunners, who were offered big paydays for comparatively few episodes. This model has been extremely attractive to top creators such as Shonda Rhimes (Bridgerton) and Ryan Murphy (Dahmer), who can make nine figures with less long-term commitment to a project.[51] However, such deals were not offered to mid-level writers, that is, writers who are not household names but have years of experience.  Compounding this, the top creators also began employing much smaller writing staffs of more junior—that is, less-experienced—writers, who work for scale on fewer episodes, effectively squeezing out the mid-level writers.[52]

Additionally, there is the new mini-room phenomenon. Under this framework, studios hire a small room of junior writers, paid weekly, to start developing characters or plotlines for a new show or new season of an existing show—all without actually ordering any episodes to production. If the program is never produced, the writers collect their weekly fee but may have nothing else to show for their work—not even a credit that might help them secure future employment. If the program is produced, a big-name showrunner and more senior writers may swoop in and get all the recognition for developing it. The mini-room writers would not collect any additional producer fees and, unless they wrote whole scripts in addition to their development work, would not earn a script fee.  They may not even see their names in the finished show’s credits.[53] Some writers argue there’s nothing “mini” about these rooms as it’s the same quality and amount of work for less pay.[54]

As of May 2, the WGA has proposed to fix these issues by mandating for both traditional writers’ rooms and mini-rooms a minimum number of mid-level writers and a minimum total staff size.  The WGA also requests an increase in pay for mini-room writers.  The studios appear to have accepted the latter but rejected for the former.[55] Perhaps the studios would argue that the old model of more writers in a room earning more money is an unnecessary expense for a show that is only six to ten episodes a season. Indeed, some hit shows, such as The White Lotus, are entirely written by one writer—no staff at all.[56]  It is unlikely that studios would make concessions that bring them closer to an older, more expensive work model when the newer, cheaper one still isn’t turning a profit.

Span Protection

As discussed above, writers’ rooms commonly feature a mix of junior and mid-level writers.  While the junior writers get paid a weekly scale rate, the mid-level writers are treated as writer-producers, meaning they get paid a flat fee for every episode of the show produced. For the writer-producers who get paid these episodic fees, shorter seasons on streaming platforms pose a problem. A streaming show might feature only six episodes, but a writer-producer might work for a whole year on those six episodes. Thus, the total amount of money a writer-producer makes from those six episodic fees might, when divided by the total number of weeks worked, average out to less than what the weekly writers make for their time. To mitigate this, the current MBA enacted span protection, which states that a writer-producer’s episodic fee can buy only 2.4 weeks of the writer-producer’s time per episode. If a writer-producer works longer than 2.4 weeks per episode, additional compensation is due.[57]

As a result, the junior writers may be saddled with more and longer work at their same weekly scale rate.[58] All this has prompted the Guild to argue for higher weekly scale and more robust span protection, that is, episodic rates that buy out even less of a writer’s time.  Such potential negotiating points would address the fact that the middle class of writer-producers has shrunk in streaming in favor of the big-time showrunners and junior writers. As of May 2, the parties have tentatively agreed to increased span protection.[59]

Exclusivity

Normally, a studio employing writers on a given project may prevent them from working on other shows for 60 days from the date of their last payment for the current project. This is exclusivity. After that unpaid period ends, if the studio does not pay at least a third of the weekly minimum to hold the writer, the writer may look for other work.[60]

In 2020, the WGA negotiated with the studios over options for this exclusivity. Now, studios may not negotiate an option to hold a writer employed for eight weeks or less, unless the option is for employment that begins immediately following the initial short employment. This protection applies to all writers earning below a cap of $280,500 in the initial employment period of eight weeks or less.[61]

This became essential for writers because studios decreased the lengths of seasons and work schedules without necessarily decreasing the lengths of exclusivity periods. The Guild stresses that less-restrictive exclusivity rules are needed to give its members the freedom to work on multiple projects a year in order to earn what they were once able to from a single broadcast show. Additionally, exclusivity provisions can hypothetically stall careers by preventing writers from spending their free time developing their own shows.[62]

As of May 2, the parties have made some progress here, tentatively agreeing to raise the raise the earnings cap for exclusivity protection to $350,000.[63]

Artificial Intelligence

As discussed in greater detail in this journal by Elizabeth’s Abreu’s note “AIs Generating Art—And Legal Issues,” the rise in artificial intelligence technology looms over writers’ heads.  As of May 2, the Guild has proposed restrictions on the use of AI by studios—but not much headway has been made on this point.[64] While the prospect of AI-generated screenplays may seem far off, recall that web-streamed television may have seem far-fetched back in 2007 when the studios agreed that such shows would employ Guild writers.  The battle for the future happens in the present.

Conclusion

Emboldened by their win against agents’ packaging deals and arbitration victory against Netflix, the writers are coming in hot. They believe they should get their fair share.

The studios are prepared. They say they are “fully committed to reaching a fair and reasonable deal that brings strength and stability to the industry.”[65] But they remember their losses from last time. Additionally, studio consolidation, the streaming arms race, and scrutiny from Wall Street have led the new leaders at Warner Bros. (David Zaslav) and Disney (Bob Iger, returning to replace Bob Chapek) to promise shareholders a course correction.[66] In the wake of COVID-19 and rising inflation, there is less willingness on the part of audiences, shareholders, and perhaps the writers themselves to suffer another industry shutdown.

In 2019, before the last MBA negotiations, the TV studios prepared by banking extra scripts for their ongoing series to keep them in production in case of a strike.[67] The studios have employed the same practice again.[68] This may very well help them outlast the writers, whose pocketbooks will be hurt the longer the strike lasts. The studios may also repeat tactics from 2007, such as a turn to more unscripted television, or even the employment of non-union writers.

Before the strike, I predicted writers would likely achieve some objectives like modest increases in the minimum rate and residuals. Perhaps even a raise on the minimum number of writers in a room and an increase in span protection. Thus far, my predictions appear correct. However, any gains will be a pittance against what they currently hope: for the streamers to release their data showing viewership numbers, which might be used to justify more equitable residuals and raises. I predict the streamers are going to keep a tight lid on that box and trust that the writers will give in after a prolonged period without work.

I’m only glad that Succession has already aired their final season. It would be terrible if it turned out that Logan Roy was never really there at all and was merely a ghost who had been haunting his kids over the course of the show. My concern over the fates of the kids in Hawkins, Indiana for their final season in Stranger Things is far greater.

About the author

Adam Burch (’24) was born in the Bay Area and graduated from UCSD with a BA in Media/Communications and a minor in Theatre Arts. He wrote his first novel Song of Edmon and its sequel Roar of the Storm (published by 47North) after a meeting with screenwriter Philip Eisner that led to a Dungeons & Dragons campaign and the creation of protagonist Edmon Leontes. He’s also a Nicholl Fellowship quarterfinalist for screenwriting. During his time at USC Gould, he chaired the Entertainment Law Society’s Sundance Film Festival trip, externed for the Hon. Margo Rocconi (Central District of California) and currently clerks for Rushing McCarl LLP. You can catch him in episodes of ABC’s Scandal, the cult classic Nazis at the Center of the Earth and in the new horror film This Land (now streaming on Tubi). He holds a black sash in Wing Chun Kung Fu and plays a mean guitar.

[1] Writers Guild of America West, https://www.wga.org/uploadedfiles/contracts/mba20.pdf (Last visited March 25, 2023).

[2] Quotefancy, https://quotefancy.com/quote/1125316/James-Carville-There-s-a-simple-doctrine-Outside-of-a-person-s-love-the-most-sacred-thing (Last visited March 25, 2023).

[3] Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/184176/estimated-revenue-of-the-us-broadcasting-industry-since- (Last visited May 1, 2023).

[4] Writers Guild of America West, https://www.wga.org/the-guild/about-us/guide-to-the-guild (Last visited March 26, 2023).

[5] Kyle DeGuzman, What is WGA— The Writers Guild of America Explained, Studio Binder (Sept. 19, 2021), https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-wga/.

[6] Writers Guild of America West, supra note 4.

[7] Emily Maesar, The Ever-Falling Dominoes of the Last Hollywood Strike: The 2007-2008 Writers’ Strike 15 Years Later, TVJawn (Nov. 11, 2022), https://www.moviejawn.com/home/2022/11/11/the-ever-falling-dominoes-of-the-last-hollywood-strike-the-2007-2008-writers-strike-15-years-later.

[8] Ken Basin, The Business of Television (2019).

[9] Cynthia Littleton, In Hollywood Contract Talks, the Push for Viewership Data May Become a Flash Point, Variety, (Feb. 28, 2023), https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/wga-negotiations-viewership-data-streamers-netflix-apple-1235538967/, See also, Gene Maddaus, WGA and AMPTP Exchange Proposals Ahead of Next Week’s Negotiations, Variety (Mar. 13, 2023), https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/wga-amptp-exchange-proposals-negotiations-1235552352/, But see David Robb, WGA Members Overwhelmingly Approve Pattern of Demands for Upcoming Contract Talks, Deadline (Mar. 7, 2023) https://deadline.com/2023/03/hollywood-strike-wga-members-approve-pattern-of-demands-contract-talks-1235281682/ (discussing the WGA’s actual approved pattern of demands released to the public which does not include data transparency). See alsoCowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP, Demystifying WGA Television Residuals, https://cdas.com/demystifying-wga-television-residuals/ (Oct. 11, 2018) (Last visited Mar. 25, 2023).

[10] Writers strike cost L.A. economy $2.5 billion, NBC News (Feb. 19, 2008), https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23244509.

[11] Leigh Blickley, 10 Years Ago, Screenwriters Went On Strike and Changed Television Forever, Huffpost (Feb. 12, 2018), https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-years-ago-screenwriters-went-on-strike-and-changed-television-forever_n_5a7b3544e4b08dfc92ff2b32.

[12] Maesar, supra note 7.

[13] Lacey Rose, Sagging Support for Strike in Hollywood, Forbes (July 8, 2008), https://www.forbes.com/2008/07/08/sag-aftra-hollywood-biz-media-cx_lr_0708bizsag.html?sh=5ca8363f3294, see also Boyenne Law, The Law Offices of Akua Boyenne, Why Did SAG and AFTRA Merge?, http://www.boyennelaw.com/blog/2015/10/4/why-did-sag-and-aftra-merge#:~:text=The%20Los%20Angeles%20Times%20said,and%20feuding%20over%20negotiating%20strategy. (Oct. 4, 2015) (Last visited Mar. 26, 2023).

[14] Jordan Crucchiola, The Hollywood Fight That’s Tearing Apart Writers and Agents, Explained, Vulture (Apr. 18, 2019), https://www.vulture.com/article/wga-hollywood-agents-packaging-explained.html.

[15] Tarnowski v. Resop, 236 Minn. 33, 38 (1952) (affirming the proposition that a principal is entitled to be indemnified by the agent for any loss which has been caused to his interests by the improper transaction).

[16] The Deadline Team, ‘The Wire’ Creator David Simon Rips “Greedhead” Agencies Over Packaging, Urges Lawsuit Against ATA, Deadline (Mar. 19, 2019), https://deadline.com/2019/03/david-simon-writers-agents-packaging-fight-wga-ata-commentary-1202578152/.

[17] David Robb, The End of Packaging Fees: The WGA’s Historic Campaign to Reshape Talent Agency Business Takes Full Effect Today – Q&A, Deadline (June 30, 2022), https://deadline.com/2022/06/wga-end-of-packaging-fees-q-and-a-on-campaign-to-reshape-talent-agency-business-1235054471.

[18] Residuals for High-Budget Subscription Video on Demand (HBSVOD) Programs, Writers Guild of America West, https://www.wga.org/members/finances/residuals/hbsvod-programs (last visited May 1, 2023).

[19] David Robb, Landmark “Self-Dealing” Arbitration Found in Netflix in “Violation” of WGA Contracts, Deadline (Aug. 10, 2022), https://deadline.com/2022/08/landmark-self-dealing-arbitration-found-netflix-in-violation-of-wga-contract-1235089521/.

[20] Brady McDonald, How Much Are the Theme Parks Losing During the Covid-19 Pandemic?, Blooloop (May 21, 2020), https://blooloop.com/theme-park/in-depth/theme-park-financial-impact-covid-19/ but see Lance Hart, US Theme Parks Poised to Bounce Back, Blooloop (May 16, 2022), https://blooloop.com/theme-park/opinion/us-theme-parks-recovery-financial-reports-2022/.

[21] Travis Clark, The Movie Business is in Shambles. It Likely Won’t be “Back” For Over Another Year, Business Insider (Aug. 28, 2022), https://www.businessinsider.com/why-movie-business-is-in-shambles-when-it-will-recover-2022-8, see also Paige Albiniak, How the Pandemic Has Permanently Changes TV, Next Tv (Jan. 31, 2022), https://www.nexttv.com/news/how-the-pandemic-has-permanently-changed-tv.

[22] Brandon Katz, The Walt Disney Company’s Major Recent Acquisitions, Ranked by Cost, The Observer (Sept. 22, 2022), https://observer.com/2020/09/disney-buys-star-wars-marvel-fox-hulu-pixar-cost-box-office/#:~:text=Fox%3A%20for%20%2471.3%20billion&text=The%20deal%20reshaped%20the%20landscape,powerful%20studio%20in%20the%20market.

[23] Hannah Bowler, What You Need to Know About the Warner Bros Discovery Merger, The Drum (Apr. 12, 2022),  https://www.thedrum.com/news/2022/04/12/what-you-need-know-about-the-warner-bros-discovery-merger.

[24] Andrew Bary, AT&T Stung Investors by Spinning Off Warner Bros. Discovery, Barron’s (Dec. 21, 2022), https://www.barrons.com/articles/att-stock-spin-warner-51671650071.

[25] David Robb, WGA West Blasts Warner Bros Discovery Moves Ahead of Possible Writers Strike; WBD Says It’s Committed To “Facilitating Greater Inclusion of Underrepresented Groups”, Deadline (Jan. 30, 2023),

https://deadline.com/2023/01/wga-west-blasts-warner-bros-discovery-writers-strike-1235244477.

[26] Dawn Chmielewski, Analysis: Warner Bros Discovery's Zaslav Takes Over as Streaming Bubble Bursts, Reuters (Apr. 8, 2022), https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/warner-bros-discoverys-zaslav-takes-over-streaming-bubble-bursts-2022-04-08/, see also Mike Calia & Alex Sherman, Bob Iger Returns as Disney CEO, Replacing Bob Chape After Brief, Tumultuous Tenure, CNBC (Nov. 20, 2022), https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/21/bob-iger-named-disney-ceo-effective-immediately.html.

[27] GlobalData, Netflix Loses Almost a Million Subscribers in Last Quarter, https://www.globaldata.com/data-insights/technology--media-and-telecom/netflix-loses-almost-a-million-subscribers-in-last-quarter/#:~:text=In%20April%202022%2C%20the%20company,loss%20between%20April%20and%20July (Last visited May 1, 2023).

[28] Mike Redmond, It Turns Out the Price Tag on Amazon’s ‘Lord of The Rings’ Series Might Be Closer To $1 Billion Than We First Thought, UpRoxx (Oct. 4, 2022),

 https://uproxx.com/tv/how-much-did-lotr-the-rings-of-power-really-cost.

[29] Travis Clark, Disney’s ‘Star Wars’ TV Series, ‘The Mandalorian,’ cost $100 million to make—but its Marvel shows cost even more, Business Insider (Oct. 22, 2019), https://www.businessinsider.com/budget-of-disney-plus-star-wars-series-the-mandalorian-2019-10#:~:text=%22The%20Mandalorian%2C%22%20the%20first,episode%27s%20budget%20around%20%2412.5%20million..

[30] Alex Abad-Santos, The Snyder Cut rights a lot of Justice League’s wrongs, Vox (Mar. 15, 2021),  https://www.vox.com/22325749/snyder-cut-review-justice-league-hbo-max.

[31] Adrian Pennington, What’s Next For Streaming? It’s All About the ARPU, Baby, NAB Amplify (Jan. 20, 2023), https://amplify.nabshow.com/articles/capitalize-streaming-arpu/.

[32] Max Zahn, A Hollywood writers’ strike looms: What to know, ABC News (Apr. 18, 2023), https://abcnews.go.com/Business/hollywood-writers-strike-looms/story?id=98660478.

[33] 29 U.S.C. § 157 (Rights of employees as to organization, collective bargaining, etc.).

[34] 29 U.S.C.S. § 151 (protecting the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection).

[35] NLRB v. Columbian Enameling & Stamping Co., 96 F.2d 948, 954 (7th Cir. 1938).

[36] Mandalit del Barco, Writers Guild of America goes on strike, NPR (May 2, 2023), https://www.npr.org/2023/05/02/1172876800/writers-guild-calls-strike.

[37] Epic Sys. Corp. v. Lewis, 138 S. Ct. 1612, 1632 (2018).

[38] Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448, 2486 (2018); Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, 141 S. Ct. 2063, 2079 (2021).

[39] Strict Scrutiny Podcast, The Long Game to Weaken Workers’ Rights, Crooked media (Jan. 9, 2023), https://crooked.com/podcast/the-long-game-to-weaken-workers-rights.

[40] Glacier Nw., Inc. v. Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters Local Union No. 174, 198 Wash. 2d 768, 805 (2021).

[41] Glacier at 773, supra note 40

[42] Glacier at 773, supra note 40.

[43] Glacier at 791, supra note 40.

[44] Robb, supra note 9.

[45] WGA Negotiations—Status as of May 1, 2023, Writers Guild of America West, https://www.wgacontract2023.org/uploadedfiles/members/member_info/contract-2023/wga_proposals.pdf (last accessed May 2, 2023).

[46] David Robb, WGA Sets Contract Negotiating Committee As Potential Writers Strike Looms, Deadline (Nov. 7, 2022), https://deadline.com/2022/11/writers-guild-contract-negotiating-committee-writers-strike-fears-1235165788/.

[47] Robb, supra note 46.

[48] Robb, supra note 46

[49] Supra note 18.

[50] Supra note 45.

[51] Gene Maddaus and Brent Lang, Hollywood Braces for a Possible Writers Strike: Why the WGA and Studios are on a Collision Course, Variety (Feb. 8, 2023), https://variety.com/2023/film/news/hollywood-writers-strike-wga-studios-work-stoppage-streaming-1235516111.

[52] Joe Otterson, Mini Rooms Drive Major Controversy as Creative Community Feels Strain of TV’s Vast Expansion, Variety, https://variety.com/2021/tv/features/mini-rooms-writers-tv-pilot-series-orders-1235061733/ (Last visited May 1, 2023).

[53] Gene Maddaus, WGA and AMPTP Exchange Proposals Ahead of Next Week’s Negotiations, Variety (Mar. 13, 2023), https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/wga-amptp-exchange-proposals-negotiations-1235552352/.

[54] Brian Welk, WGA Anonymous: The Only Thing Mini About This Writer’s Room is the Pay, IndieWire (Apr. 4, 2023), https://www.indiewire.com/2023/04/wga-anonymous-member-mini-rooms-writers-strike-1234825451/.

[55] Supra note 45.

[56] IMDb, The White Lotus (TV Series 2021-2023) – Full Cast & Crew – IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13406094/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ql_1 (Last visited May 2, 2023).

[57] Writers Guild of America West, Span Guide: Protecting Overscale Pay for TV Writer-Producers, WGAW The Writers' Deal Hub, https://www.wga.org/members/employment-resources/writers-deal-hub/span-guide-protecting-overscale-pay-for-tv-writer-producers (Last visited Apr. 15, 2023).

[58] Maddaus, supra note 53

[59] Supra note 45.

[60] Writers Guild of America West, Options & Exclusivity: The Ability to Find Work, WGAW The Writers' Deal Hub, https://www.wga.org/members/employment-resources/writers-deal-hub/options-and-exclusivity-the-ability-to-find-work, (Last visited Apr. 15, 2023).

[61] Options & Exclusivity: The Ability to Find Work, Writers Guild of America West, https://www.wga.org/members/employment-resources/writers-deal-hub/options-and-exclusivity-the-ability-to-find-work (last accessed May 1, 2023).

[62] Joe Otterson, How Exclusive Contracts Leave Writers and Actors Scrambling to Navigate Supercharged Job  Market, Variety (Dec. 23, 2021), (https://variety.com/2021/tv/entertainment-industry/exclusive-deals-streamers-prestige-television-1235142536/

[63] Supra note 45.

[64] Supra note 45.

[65] Gene Maddaus, Writers Guild Contract Negotiations to Begin on March 20, as Strike Threat Looms, Variety (Feb. 22, 2023), https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/wga-contract-negotiations-march-20-amptp-1235531974.

[66] Georg Szalai, Wall Street’s Streaming Warnings to Hollywood Get More Dire: Can’t “Light Money on Fire”, The Hollywood Reporter (Jan. 19, 2023), https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/wall-street-streaming-guidance-2023-1235302958.

[67] Nellie Andreeva, TV Studios in Strike-Preparation Mode Ahead of WGA Contract Negotiations with Overall Deals at Stake & Streamers as Wild Card, Deadline (Nov. 17, 2019), https://deadline.com/2019/11/tv-studios-strike-preparation-mode-wga-contract-negotiations-netflix-streamers-overall-deals-1202795768/

[68] Anousha Sakoui, Hollywood Studios Plan for a Writers’ Strike — Even Before Negotiations Have Started, L.A. Times (Feb. 23, 2023), https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-02-23/ahead-of-a-possible-strike-studios-and-writers-get-ready-in-case-of-a-summer-shutdown.