The Writers Guild of America calls for a strike after negotiations with Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and others over pay and AI issues failed; around 12K may strike

The Writers Guild of America, the union that bargains on behalf of Hollywood's screenwriters, has called a strike after negotiations …

Gizmodo 2023-05-02 Lucas Ropek

Context & Ripple Effects

The dispute put streaming-era compensation and AI governance into the same bargaining fight for Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and other Hollywood employers. Follow-up coverage clarified that writers’ AI concerns centered on both training-data use and being assigned to revise AI-produced drafts, as detailed in writers’ two core AI concerns.

The strike became an early test of whether entertainment labor agreements could set operational limits around generative AI. It was later followed by a tentative three-year WGA agreement that paired pay and streaming-residual changes with AI rules.

First-order effects

WGA members can halt covered writing work, immediately disrupting the employers’ writer labor pipeline while negotiations over pay and AI protections remain unresolved.
Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and the other studios face a direct choice between holding their bargaining position and reaching terms that address writers’ compensation and AI-related demands.

Second-order effects

The dispute makes AI use a concrete contract issue for studios and streaming services, not simply an internal production-tool decision; any settlement can become a reference point for other entertainment negotiations.
Pressure to resolve the stoppage extends beyond the bargaining parties: the Hollywood Professional Association later urged the parties to find a resolution, underscoring the wider production ecosystem’s exposure to a prolonged dispute.

Third-order effects

If comparable provisions recur, collective bargaining could become a primary mechanism for defining when AI may be trained on creative work and how AI-generated material enters professional workflows.
The conflict points toward AI commercialization in media being constrained by labor terms alongside technology and copyright choices, with the eventual boundaries dependent on future contracts and enforcement.

The trend: Generative AI is shifting from a production experiment to a recurring labor-governance issue across entertainment, where compensation, data use, and creative control are negotiated together.

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.
@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.
@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/...
@wgawest @wgawest on x
Picketing will begin tomorrow afternoon. #WGAStrong #WGAStrike
@wgawest @wgawest on x
Though our Negotiating Committee began this process intent on making a fair deal, the studios' responses have been wholly insufficient given the existential crisis writers are facing.
@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/...
@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.
@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…
@variety @variety on x
Jimmy Fallon on the potential writers strike: “I wouldn't have a show if it wasn't for my writers, and I support them all the way.” https://variety.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@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/...
@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.
@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.
@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.
@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/...
@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…
@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.
@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.
@wgawest @wgawest on x
The decision was made following six weeks of negotiating with @Netflix, @Amazon, @Apple, @Disney, @wbd, @NBCUniversal, @Paramountplus and @Sony under the umbrella of the AMPTP.

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