The Writers Guild of America strikes after negotiations over pay and AI issues with Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Sony, and others failed; nearly 12K may join

Gizmodo 2023-05-03 Lucas Ropek

Context & Ripple Effects

The strike followed a breakdown in talks between the WGA and major studios and streamers, putting compensation and AI use into the same labor dispute. Writers’ AI concerns were concrete: training on their work and being asked to revise AI drafts were identified as the central risks.

The episode became a consequential test of bargaining leverage in streaming-era Hollywood: the parties later reached a tentative agreement with higher streaming residuals and new AI rules, showing that both issues were contract questions rather than side debates.

First-order effects

WGA members who join the strike stop covered writing work, immediately disrupting the studios, networks, and streaming services named in the negotiations.
Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Sony, and other employers must negotiate across both pay and AI terms rather than treating AI deployment as an operational decision outside the contract.

Second-order effects

Projects dependent on active writing face schedule uncertainty, increasing pressure on studios and platforms to resolve the dispute before interruptions spread through their production pipelines.
The dispute gives other entertainment unions a live precedent for treating AI training, AI-generated drafts, and human credit as bargaining issues; SAG-AFTRA later pursued a video-game strike over AI protections.

Third-order effects

If this pattern holds, AI governance in entertainment will increasingly be set through collective agreements—covering permitted uses, compensation, and human oversight—alongside traditional pay terms.
Streaming economics and AI adoption are becoming linked labor issues: platforms’ ability to scale content operations may depend as much on negotiated rights and residual structures as on technical capability.

The trend: Creative-industry labor negotiations are expanding from compensation disputes into rules for how generative AI can use, alter, and displace human work.

Discussion

@wgawest @wgawest on x
The Board of Directors of the @WGAwest and the Council of the @WGAeast, acting upon the authority granted to them by their memberships, have voted unanimously to call a strike, effective 12:01 AM, Tuesday, May 2.
@adamconover Adam Conover on x
I'm incredibly proud of how transparent our union is. In the @WGAWest's strike announcement, we included a list of our proposals, and the AMPTP's responses. Read it for yourself: it explains in black and white we're forced to go on strike. https://twitter.com/...
@rweingarten Randi Weingarten on x
TV streaming services are more popular than ever, making record profits. It's time the people who wrote those TV shows were paid their fair share. #Solidarity with @WGAEast & @WGAwest. #WritersStrike2023✊📺 https://twitter.com/...
@variety @variety on x
Amanda Seyfried on the potential WGA strike: “My writer friends think it's going to happen.” #MetGala https://variety.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@beingjanine @beingjanine on x
If the Netflix rumor is true, that they're the only holdouts for reaching an agreement with the WGA, I swear I will cancel my subscription for the entirety of any potential strike. It's one small way those of us in the industry -but not in the WGA union- can exert our power.
@neilhimself Neil Gaiman on x
I'm in the Writers Guild of America. I wish this wasn't happening and support it absolutely. When I wake up tomorrow I'll be on strike. (To forestall the inevitable questions, Good Omens 2 is completed and handed in. Although I may not be able to promote it as I had hoped.) https…
@massawyrm C. Robert Cargill on x
The immediate fear of AI isn't that us writers will have our work replaced by artificially generated content. It's that we will be underpaid to rewrite that trash into something we could have done better from the start. This is what the WGA is opposing and the studios want.
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
Hollywood screenwriters are on strike and one of the key reasons is they want guarantees around AIs not being used to turn their jobs into “gig work” where they simply edit content created by AI. The world has changed rapidly in less than a year. https://gizmodo.com/...
@passionweiss Otto Von Biz Markie on x
Between the massive media layoffs, the looming bankruptcy of Vice, the studios forcing the writers into a strike & the rise of A.I. there's been a grotesque devaluation of imagination & creativity - during a time where it feels like people are more desperate for it than ever.
@wgawest @wgawest on x
Picketing will begin tomorrow afternoon. #WGAStrong #WGAStrike
@franklinleonard Franklin Leonard on x
As we go into the final day of negotiations before the contract expires, let's all hope that the studios don't force writers to strike in order to get some small piece of what they deserve for being the literal authors of the industry's financial success.
@adamconover Adam Conover on x
We proposed that comedy/variety and daytime writers on streaming have the same pay and protections as they do on TV. Instead, they offered us a minimum that would apply to virtually no shows on the air, oh and also, they're want to start paying you by the day.
@alexnpress Alex Press on x
absurd https://twitter.com/...
@mc_of_a Michael Caley on x
broadly I think the streaming wars have followed a VC model — pour investor cash into money-losing projects in the hopes of achieving total market dominance, offer minimal worker protections based on a “new” economy or whatever it blows up the same way https://twitter.com/...
@conorsen Conor Sen on x
The financial model in Hollywood right now doesn't seem to work for anyone — writers are underpaid and streamers aren't generating profits. So I support the writers here — but there aren't any excess profits to spread around, so I fear that less content is part of any agreement.
@nofilmschool @nofilmschool on x
Pay writers what they deserve. https://twitter.com/...
@emilystjams Emily St. James on x
A weird thing I see keep cropping up is “The last writers strike made reality TV more popular!” in a “be careful what you wish for!” way. Except this is just completely untrue?
@elizaskinner @elizaskinner on x
This is truly, simply what the WGA strike is about: do you detect a difference b/t the shows you stream (through Roku, your laptop, etc) and the ones you watch through a cable box? Bc we do the same work for both, but we take a HUGE paycut for streaming shows. 1/3
@hollywood_labor @hollywood_labor on x
The WGA proposals would have cost the companies about $429 million per year. In other words, Ari Emmanuel and David Zaslav could have footed the bill by themselves last year - and still walked away with $63 million salaries each. https://twitter.com/...
@travishelwig Travis Helwig on x
Also the WGA emailed out the Studio counter-proposals and they are straight up insulting. They flat out rejected any mini-room, SVOD, or AI protections. Their increases barely account for inflation. Studios didn't even TRY to make a fair deal.
@riverag3000 Jorge Rivera on x
WGA: We'd really rather not have AI try to do our jobs. AMPTP: Nah. https://twitter.com/...
@metaplexmovies Brendan Hodges on x
I've tweeted about the ugly uselessness of A.I. recently, but the biggest danger isn't that it will replace what only artists create but that Hollywood will abuse it as both a negotiating tactic or a replacement. I stand with the WGA, and the value only writers can create. https:…
@akilahobviously Akilah Hughes on x
Not to be hyperbolic, but this WGA strike is the canary in the coal mine. If we don't stop this industry from insane automation and devaluing wages that's a wrap. That's dystopia.
@moreperfectus @moreperfectus on x
Nearly 20,000 writers could go on strike as soon as midnight tonight, and shut down Hollywood. Here's what's happening, and how you can pressure Hollywood executives to pay writers. Thread.
@jfcdoomblade Reyna Cervantes on x
If it's true that Netflix is the holdout from WGA reaching a deal, that is inexplicably evil and you should definitely cancel your subscriptions.
@moreperfectus @moreperfectus on x
Today is the last day to sign a message of support for the WGA's demands, and send it directly to the CEOs of Amazon, Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros! Action link: (/11) https://actionnetwork.org/...
@hyperprisms @hyperprisms on x
i know the wga only strikes if it gets absolutely dire because i just had the concept of “mini rooms” explained to me and suddenly the reason why netflix can somehow afford to keep churning out utter shite became crystal clear.
@discussingfilm @discussingfilm on x
Included within the rejected WGA deal was regulation on A.I. generated scripts, as the studios agreed only to study the issue. The WGA proposed that AI “can't write or rewrite literary material,” and can't be “used as source material.” (Source: https://variety.com/...) https://tw…
@siddhantadlakha Siddhant Adlakha on x
Picket locations, schedules and other details for both WGA West and East: LA: Amazon, CBS (x2), Disney, Fox, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Universal, WB NY: Peacock, Netflix https://www.wgacontract2023.org/ ...
@pmiscove Phillip Iscove on x
Let it be know that the #wga proposed: “Regulate use of artificial intelligence on MBA- covered projects: AI can't write or rewrite literary material; can't be used as source material; and MBA-covered material can't be used to train AI.” and the studios rejected the proposal.

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