After nearly four months of the writers’ strike… Hollywood studios and streamers released details of their revised contract proposal for the 11.5K-member union yesterday, but the WGA was unimpressed. Some deets:
Writers would receive a 13% pay bump over three years, access to streaming viewership data, and some protections re AI-generated material.
Union leadership said the offer was filled with loopholes and had omissions, and it urged writers to keep picketing. The guild said a follow-up face-to-face with execs like Disney’s Bob Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos was less a meeting than a lecture intended to get the union to cave.
Reality setting in… As the content crunch from striking writers and actors begins to hit studio earnings, a new group is looking to join the movement: reality-TV casts and crews. Unscripted content has historically been a load-bearer for studios during strikes as it's largely nonunion.
SAG-AFTRA (the performers’ union) said this month that it’s working toward protections for reality entertainers to end “exploitative practices” in the industry.
A former cast member sued Netflix’s “Love Is Blind,” alleging brutal set conditions and pay amounting to about $7/hour.
“Real Housewives” star Bethenny Frankel recently said, “I got paid $7,250 for my first season of reality TV, and people are still watching those episodes.”
If reality stars revolt, studios will be facing an even bigger content nightmare.