The Writers Strike
and the future of humanity, nbd
When I read that the Writers Guild of America was officially on strike, I thought about an Opinion piece I read in the New York Times a few days ago which argued that writers should be paid to stare at walls. I went looking for the essay this morning and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t exist. The best I could find was Zack Stentz’s piece, “The Hollywood Writers’ Strike Isn’t About Money. It’s About Survival.” Maybe I dreamed the other one. Or maybe, when I saw Stentz’s title, I interpreted it this way: “The future of humanity depends on our ability to value staring at walls.”
I think we’re culturally obsessed with Hollywood because it’s the largest public stage where art and capitalism attempt to coexist, where the drug of money and the impulse to create often collide. Underneath the allure and glamour of wealth and status, we’re talking about a small section of the population who get paid to be artists. I know I get distracted by the chatter about facelifts and misuses of Ozempic, but isn’t Hollywood ultimately a group of quirky humans determined to live as creatives?
Of course we’re more familiar with the actors and pop stars than the writers and makeup artists and set designers. But I know when I think of Hollywood, I see a bustling universe of people playing make believe—a corner of the world which acknowledges the importance of play.
The terms of the negotiation between the writers union and the streaming services are, of course, about money. It’s increasingly hard for tv writers to make a living from shows that run 8 episodes every 18 months instead of the old model of roughly 20 episodes per season. But the issues go beyond how much we value the number of words a writer writes per month. People don’t sit down in a writers room, turn on their brains, churn out content, go home, and shut off those brains until the next work day. The WGA addresses things like inconsistent residuals in their terms (it’s hard to live when the check in the mail could be for thousands or pennies), but I’m hung up on that idea that if we have to pay people to create (and we do for as long as we’re paying anyone for anything), we can’t nickel and dime their minutes. Hollywood is on the world stage, a role model for much more. Let’s dream bigger.
I regularly fantasize about the days of the king’s court, as if it’s logical to assume Medieval life was superior to our modern world. I get stuck on the idea that poets and painters were so valued that they were sponsored to simply live in a castle and create their art. “Sponsored” is an admittedly vague concept, but it usually meant some version of acceptance into the royal inner circle, a salary, and often a lifelong pension.
It’s possible these creatives felt more like slaves to a king. It definitely gives me a mild panic attack to think of living and working full time in someone else’s home. But I can’t let go of the image of a society that values the creative process enough to say, Here’s food and shelter and financial security, now you do you.
I don’t really know anything about how money actually works, but I’m still bummed that even in Hollywood, one rare place where play seems acceptable, they’re still ignoring how play actually works.
In semi-related news, I just found out about a local grant for adult flight lessons to earn a pilot’s license (with the commitment to participate in Mercy Flights, a volunteer organization here that offers emergency flights to the mainland). Learning to fly a small plane has been a dream for a long time, maybe because my grandfather was a pilot, or maybe because I think the birds have it pretty good when it comes to ultimate freedom. I have an interview next weekend!
Optional Assignment: Make a list of 3 interests you’d pursue if your exploration was sponsored by a king’s court. In other words, what would you do/learn to do if money wasn’t the issue?
Also, a Bernie tweet:
Last year, 8 Hollywood CEOs made nearly $800 million, yet pay for TV writers has fallen by 23 percent over the last 10 years. I stand with the nearly 12,000 @WGAWest writers on strike for a fair contract.
“The Future of Writing Is at Stake!” Read more about the strike and the WGA here.
In France, they have a system for financially supporting artists because as a society they understand how making art works. (It takes a really long time and usually doesn't make any money.) I would totally love to be sponsored by a king! Hell yeah hahah
The being paid to stair at walls resonates so much!! I think about this often since I charge hourly for a lot of my work. So many times I’ll find myself hashing out a story for a client in my head while I’m in the shower or walking the dog. I’m always like “should I be charging for this?” I don’t usually. But my lawyer-friend thinks I should. The writers strike makes me think of this so much. They’re making some of the best tv there is and for damn sure a lot of it happens in the shower!