5 Things To Know If Hollywood Writers Go On Strike, From Bad TV To Economic Pain

HOLLYWOOD, CA — The clock is ticking in negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and major studios: The contract that dictates writers' pay expires at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and the WGA is posturing for a possible strike at that very time.

The WGA and the group representing major studios and production companies, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, continued negotiations throughout the weekend. The sides were prepared to meet again Monday if those sessions were fruitless, Deadline reported.

At issue: The WGA is pushing for increases in pay and residuals, focused on streaming content, and the union also wants to establish standards on the number of writers assigned to each show.

WGA members voted nearly unanimously earlier this month to authorize the union to call a strike if and when labor bosses deemed it necessary. That was meant to give the union an upper hand in negotiations with the AMPTP and it doesn't mean a strike is inevitable — even if the contract expires.

Here are five things to know if the WGA does call a strike:

It could last for a long, long time:

The WGA has shown a willingness for work stoppages. The 2007-08 writers strike majorly impacted production for over three months.

Various estimates from different organizations estimated that the 100- day strike cost the local economy between $2 billion and $3 billion.

And work would truly grind to a halt

The WGA last week issued a set of rules that outline what would happen in a strike: Union members would be barred from doing any writing for studios being struck — and because the AMPTP includes every major studio and production company in town, that's pretty much anyone.

Writers would also be prohibited from negotiating future writing projects.

There would be picket lines

The WGA rules also direct union members to honor all WGA picket lines and shift their attention from writing to performing "strike-support" duties. They're also supposed to inform the WGA if any members are breaking the strike.

Deadline reported that picket lines would hit the streets Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, WGA leaders are planning a meeting with members at the Shrine Auditorium, regardless of whether or not they've ironed out a deal.

Writers might not be the only ones not working

If the WGA does call a strike, the philosophy of union solidarity could mean that production could completely stop on movies and TV shows, even if scripts are already finished. Hollywood is a union industry, and other groups like the Directors Guild of America, which represents directors, assistant directors and unit production managers, and IATSE — which represents a huge swath of artisans and craftspeople on sets — could also refuse to cross picket lines.

IATSE has been public in its support of the possible WGA strike, though its leaders haven't explicitly said whether members would refuse to work if a strike happens. Given the union's 2021 showdown with the AMPTP, it's well within the realm of possibility that could happen.

Good TV will suffer

During the 2007-08 strike, studios and networks had to rely on two buckets of content to fill the programming gap: Shows that were already finished before the strike started and reality TV.

"Big Brother," which normally aired exclusively in the summer, got an additional springtime season from CBS. The network also ordered extra episodes of "The Price is Right."

During that strike, networks also aired shortened seasons of popular scripted shows or postponed entire seasons. But back then, series production still revolved around 20-plus episode seasons for broadcast and cable. Production changes in the streaming era would likely make a 2023 response to a strike look different.

The most palpable initial impact of a strike would be on late-night shows, which would see production halt immediately.

City News Service contributed to this report.