WGA Members Rally On Social Media; Share War Stories About Mini-Rooms, Low Pay And No Work
Scores of WGA members have turned to social media to not only reveal how they voted on the strike authorization but to share personal stories about their low pay and lack of opportunities for advancement — assuming they are working at all.
In one case, a writer talked about stealing food from the Netflix cafeteria to help feed his family because “we had to write for many months for free and couldn’t take other jobs.” Another talked about having to go on EBT despite selling a studio feature and optioning two pilots.
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“So yes, the system is broken,” writes Alanna Bennett (Roswell, NM). “Yes, peak TV is over so we’re fucked in other ways too. But that next job you’re worried about finding will be MUCH harder to get & to live off of if we don’t get what the WGA is asking for in these negotiations.”
Erin Conley (Shadow and Bone) wrote how she hasn’t been in a writers room since February of last year. “My situation is not unique, I have many friends in worse or similar spots. 2021 was a life-changing year for me. In the span of about 3 months, I got my first co-write and got staffed, after a decade of underpaid assistant work. That year I made nearly 3x as much $ as I EVER had. I had always heard ‘the 2nd job is harder’ but living it still feels cruel – to reach the top of the mountain and realize it means nothing for continued job or financial security, for buying a house or starting a family. My staff writer gig was just that: a gig.”
After retweeting many of the messages from her comrades, Lisa Morales (Queen Sugar) told Deadline “It’s ridiculous that as a showrunner in a mini room, at a major network, I made as much as I did as a Story Editor, the minimum, despite having years more of experience. It’s unsustainable. The system is broken.”
Bryan Behar (Fuller House) kept his message simple: “What my guild is asking for is neither radical nor novel. They just want writing to once again be a sustainable career option for those who do it.”
A particularly candid and emotional thread was posted on Twitter by Deanna Shumaker, an alum of CSI and Blindspot who revealed how her lack of employment actually made it impossible to vote.
“I’m not eligible to vote in this campaign,” she wrote after explaining how she went years without a writing job. “Because I haven’t made enough MBA covered earnings in the last 6 years. Because the jobs are too scarce.”
In response, Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Cowboy Bebop, Lost) wrote “the reason she CAN’T VOTE YES is why every last one of us in the #wga owes it to OUR FUTURE to VOTE YES.”
On April 12, Deadline reported negotiations for a new WGA contract have made “a little bit of progress” on feature films, but otherwise the two sides remain “far away” from a deal. Voting on the strike authorization began April 11 and continues through April 17 at noon.
Here’s a sampling of some of the Twitter threads from WGA members.
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