Issues on the plan to have a strike by Hollywood film and television writers have been around for several days. However, BBC today, a deal had been made to avert the screenwriter’s strike. This was confirmed by Billy Ray, who served as the negotiator on behalf of the Writers Guild of America. He said that the agreement was made, but it has not been officially announced.

Before the deal was made, there had been a series of talks, which involved representative of the big Hollywood studios and the union. The negotiation has been attempted since 13 March. The last time the screenwriter’s strike ended in 2008. It lasted in 100 days, from 2007 to 2008. It caused huge economic costs, which were estimated around $2 billion. If not averted, the US screenwriter’s strike would have been the second episode.

Behind the Plan of US Screenwriter’s Strike

The issues around the US screenwriter’s strike had been revolved by the Writers Guild of America (WGA). The union demanded for higher pay of episode and royalty fees for reruns. The union represents about 9.000 screenwriters around the United States of America. The members felt squeezed since many studios paid lower commissions for shorted episodes. The problem was that the kept locking up the writers with exclusive contracts. These limited the room for the writers to make contracts with other studios.

In addition, the strike was attributable to the fact that US screenwriters did not enjoy enough profits from online streaming programs. In fact, these services make the shows and movies accessible by the viewers anytime since their first airing. They even estimated a decrease of 23% in the TV writer-producers’ salary during the last two years.

In response to the demand, representatives of the union had had some negotiation talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The US screenwriters would had a strike if the negotiation failed before the May Day. On Friday, 28 April, the two sides were still negotiating with no defined agreement.

Possible Affects of the Screenwriter’s Strike

If the strike had happened, it would have affected many parties, from the viewers of favorite TV shows, the screenwriters to the studios. Some favorite TV shows might have been halted. On the other hand, the studio would have to pay approximately $156 million of additional costs for screenwriters’ pay and royalty fees. Big production companies, such as Time Warner, Walt Disney Co, Comcast Corp, CBS, and 21st Century Fox, would have been affected by the deal. Favorite programs, such as Saturday Night Live might be cancelled.

Last week, about 96% of the WGA members voted for the strike. Some of them voted through social media. For instance, the members used related pictures to show their support and express solidarity. Yes, the US screenwriter’s strike had been averted, but it has not been confirmed yet. The screenwriters now have many tools to express their opinion. It is certainly different from the last strike, in which online television was still newly born. Now, some big companies like Amazon and Netflix are competing for the services.