Neil Gaiman promises writer’s strike won’t affect Good Omens season 2

Hollywood writers are on strike! The members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are officially on the picket line as of midnight last night, after weeks of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) came to naught.

The WGA released a statement on the matter. It’s wordy, but they’re writers; what did you expect?

"We have not reached an agreement with the studios and streamers. We will be on strike after the contract expires at midnight.The WGA Negotiating Committee spent the last six weeks negotiating with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony under the umbrella of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).Over the course of the negotiation, we explained how the companies’ business practices have slashed our compensation and residuals and undermined our working conditions. Our chief negotiator, as well as writers on the committee, made clear to the studios’ labor representatives that we are determined to achieve a new contract with fair pay that reflects the value of our contribution to company success and includes protections to ensure that writing survives as a sustainable profession. We advocated on behalf of members across all sectors: features, episodic television, and comedy-variety and other non-prime-time programs, by giving them facts, concrete examples, and reasonable solutions. Guild members demonstrated collective resolve and support of the agenda with a 97.85% strike authorization.Though we negotiated intent on making a fair deal—and though your strike vote gave us the leverage to make some gains—the studios’ responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing. The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing. From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a “day rate” in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers, they have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.Therefore, earlier today the Negotiating Committee unanimously rejected the AMPTP’s final offer before deadline and recommended to the WGAW Board and WGAE Council the issuance of a strike order. Based on that recommendation, the Board and Council unanimously voted to strike after the current MBA’s expiration at midnight tonight."

You can see exactly what the WGA was trying to get its members (and how the AMPTP responded) right here. In summary, writers want a share of the record profits studios are boasting of in the streaming era. They also want protections for their jobs in an environment where studios have increasingly found ways to subdivide the job of writing into smaller tasks that can be paid on a per-gig basis rather than a full-time basis, hence the complaint about writing being turned into “an entirely freelance profession.” They also want limits on the use of AI in writer’s rooms.

Neil Gaiman wishes the writer’s strike wasn’t happening, but supports it “absolutely”

So what happens now? Well, latenight series like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon will pretty much immediately go dark, since the jokes for those shows are often written on the day. We won’t see the impact on scripted shows for a while longer, since scripts for those are already turned in or even shot.

For instance, the second season of Good Omens is due out this summer, exact release date pending. The episodes are already shot, so the writing phase of production is long over. Creator Neil Gaiman assured fans that there would be no interruption there:

But other series could be affected. For instance, shows like House of the Dragon and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power are currently in production on their second seasons — the scripts are turned in, but rewrites could be pushed back. A series like The Last of Us may be delayed, since it’s still in the scriptwriting phase for its second season.

The last time Hollywood writers went on strike in 2007, it shut the industry down for around 100 days, delaying many series and movies. How will things go this time?

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