{"id":45771,"date":"2017-04-25T10:57:56","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T17:57:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trektoday.com\/content\/?p=45771"},"modified":"2017-04-25T10:57:56","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T17:57:56","slug":"writers-guild-of-america-authorizes-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/2017\/04\/writers-guild-of-america-authorizes-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Writers Guild of America Authorizes Strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

If current talks between the Writers Guild of America (WGA)<\/em> and the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP)<\/em> fail, writers have voted to authorize a strike.<\/p>\n

96.3% of the six thousand, three hundred and ten writers who cast ballots voted yes for the strike authorization.<\/p>\n

“We thank you for your resolve and your faith in us as your representatives,” said the 2017 negotiating committee said in a statement today accompanying the vote results. “We are determined to achieve a fair contract. Talks will resume tomorrow.”<\/p>\n

If talks fail, the strike could come as early as May 2.<\/p>\n

The WGA<\/em> complaint is that salaries have decreased by twenty-three percent in the past six years due to shorter show seasons. Payment rates for cable shows and streaming services are well below what networks pay. For instance, a half-hour script for a broadcast network might pay $26,043, but only $14,621 for the same episode on basic cable.<\/p>\n

Screenwriters are also feeling the pain, as their wages have decreased since 2007.<\/p>\n

WGA<\/em> members, in addition to a pay raise, want a better healthcare plan. They want AMPTP<\/em> to “increase its funding to the health plan” as well as improving “pensions and family leave.”<\/p>\n

A strike would affect production of Star Trek: Discovery<\/em>. Some of the writers and Supervising Producer Ted Sullivan<\/strong> encouraged a yes vote. “Give the Board leverage they’re asking for,” said Sullivan via his Twitter<\/em> account.<\/p>\n

If there is a strike, only the completed scripts will be produced and no changes to those scripts will be permitted. Discovery<\/em> is slated for thirteen episodes for its maiden season, so if a strike dragged on, it might mean a shortened season.<\/p>\n

According to Slashfilm<\/em>, Hollywood insiders “are putting the odds of a strike around fifty-one percent.” At this time, the sticking point appears to be healthcare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If current talks between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2700],"tags":[9223,2539],"class_list":["post-45771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-strike","tag-wga"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/WriterStrikeTalks041017-1.jpg",580,225,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/WriterStrikeTalks041017-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/WriterStrikeTalks041017-1.jpg",580,225,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/WriterStrikeTalks041017-1.jpg",580,225,false],"large":["https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/WriterStrikeTalks041017-1.jpg",580,225,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/WriterStrikeTalks041017-1.jpg",580,225,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/WriterStrikeTalks041017-1.jpg",580,225,false],"newsphere-slider-full":["https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/WriterStrikeTalks041017-1.jpg",580,225,false],"newsphere-featured":["https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/WriterStrikeTalks041017-1.jpg",580,225,false],"newsphere-medium":["https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/WriterStrikeTalks041017-1.jpg",580,225,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"T'Bonz","author_link":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/author\/tbonz\/"},"category_info":"Business<\/a>","tag_info":"Business","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45771"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45773,"href":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45771\/revisions\/45773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trektoday.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}