Being rested has never been more stressful for writer and producer Felicia Pride.
Pride, whose work includes credits on shows like “Queen Sugar” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” is one of the roughly 175,000 entertainment professionals across two unions – the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA – who is on strike.
While the public has been missing their favorite shows, those on the picket lines are, too. They’re also missing the simple peace that came with being able to do their jobs.
“It’s interesting because sometimes you don’t know where the stress is coming from. Like, of course, it’s like obvious, right?,” Pride said. “It’s the uncertainty of what will the business look like on the other side of this?”
There’s also a “collective anxiety,” she said, because “your friends who are going through it too.”
The Writers Guild of America returns to the bargaining table with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) Wednesday in an effort to end at least one of the strikes that have hobbled not only those working in entertainment, but those in industries including hospitality and local businesses that have come to depend on productions.
In the case of both the writers and the actors unions they are seeking better compensation, better working conditions and protections from artificial intelligence that they fear could be used to put them out of work. The issues are so pressing that those striking say they are willing to continue to do so to convince studios and streamers that it needs to be resolved.
But on the consumer side, the indefinite hold on production has left a question mark where the Fall TV schedule once was and a hole that feels larger with every movie release delay.
They want their shows back on”
Corey Scales, a writer who has been trying to break into the industry, is surprised the strike hadn’t happened earlier.
“These feelings have been going on for a while in terms of people not being paid fairly,” he told CNN. “There have been a lot of writers who have really putting their all in and when they share (images of) their residual checks it looks like something out of high school, like when you’re doing a part-time job.”
SAG-AFTRA members and supporters on the picket line as the SAG-AFTRA Union Strike continues in front of Paramount in Times Square on August 31, 2023 in New York City. Members of SAG-AFTRA and WGA (Writers Guild of America) have both walked out in their first joint strike against the studios since 1960. The strike has shut down a majority of Hollywood productions with writers in the third month of their strike against the Hollywood studios.
