Hollywood strike matches the 100-day mark of the final writers strike in 2007-2008

By Associated Press

NEW YORK: TV late-night comedy scribe Greg Iwinski, 38, was nonetheless solely an aspiring author when Hollywood writers held their landmark strike in 2007-2008. 

But as he manned the picket traces Wednesday, the day the present strike hit its a centesimal day, matching the size of the earlier one, he was keenly conscious of all of the historical past concerned. 

“I got a residual check yesterday for a show I worked on, because people went on strike in 1960, before I was even born,” he mentioned. “And so knowing that we could be doing that for people 60 years from now is incredibly motivating.” 

And sure, mentioned Iwinski, who has written for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” and different exhibits, 100 days is a very long time, however he’s ready to strike so long as it takes. 

“Today is our 100th day of striking and we’re striking for the same thing we were on Day One, which is a fair contract,” he mentioned. “We have the same two pages of proposals and the studios have not yet responded to all those proposals … so I guess until that happens, we’ll still be out here.” 

Wednesday’s milestone comes because the U.S. movie and tv industries stay paralyzed by twin strikes by its actors and screenwriters. There’s no foreseeable finish, a negotiating session final week involving Hollywood studios and streamers and the hanging writers ended with little progress.

Television networks are a month away from beginning a brand new fall season, and broadcasters have already put contingency plans in place for programming that excludes their hottest scripted sequence. 

Hollywood’s actors started their strike on July 14, creating the primary twin strike since 1960. Issues at play for each unions embrace the usage of synthetic intelligence and residuals associated to streaming. 

The Writers Guild of America held particular pickets marking the a centesimal day in each New York and Los Angeles. Outside the Netflix places of work on Broadway in Manhattan, the scene had an upbeat really feel. A gentle stream of protesters, each writers and their actor allies in SAG-AFTRA, danced, pounded on drums and chanted slogans as they marched across the metropolis block. 

Befitting writers, indicators had been markedly artistic: “This Barbie is striking!!!” “Not Kenough.” “The only free writing you deserve is this sign.” “Writers make people happy (and sad).” And the easy: “No wages, no pages.” 

Nicole Conlan, a hanging comedy author for “The Daily Show,” mentioned that regardless of being on strike since May 2, she’s been so busy organizing on the picket traces that “I woke up today, the 100th day, and it feels like we’ve just started.” 

“We don’t want to be out of work,” mentioned Conlan, 33, “but the mood is very high because we still have all this support after 100 days. Compared to previous strikes, it really feels like people understand what we’re doing and people still are really throwing their support behind us.” 

“The things that we’re fighting for apply not just to the industry but to the entire economy,” Conlan mentioned.

“In every industry, people can see Wall Street and tech finding a way to make careers into gig jobs, so even though we do a very weird kind of job, writing, it’s easy for the layperson to see our jobs becoming gig jobs, and to see how that applies to their job as a nurse, or as a flight attendant, or as a construction worker.” 

Vicki Winters, a standup comedian who was picketing alongside the writers, performed the drums as her colleagues marched. “Corporate greed has got to go,” mentioned Winters, 66. “They are taking advantage of the workers of the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild, pretty much every worker that’s at the ground level … while billionaires, millionaires choose a number they pull out of the air, like ‘I’m going to pay myself USD 11 million,’ and meanwhile the guy downstairs is going to make USD 7.25 an hour.” 

NEW YORK: TV late-night comedy scribe Greg Iwinski, 38, was nonetheless solely an aspiring author when Hollywood writers held their landmark strike in 2007-2008. 

But as he manned the picket traces Wednesday, the day the present strike hit its a centesimal day, matching the size of the earlier one, he was keenly conscious of all of the historical past concerned. 

“I got a residual check yesterday for a show I worked on, because people went on strike in 1960, before I was even born,” he mentioned. “And so knowing that we could be doing that for people 60 years from now is incredibly motivating.” googletag.cmd.push(perform() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

And sure, mentioned Iwinski, who has written for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” and different exhibits, 100 days is a very long time, however he’s ready to strike so long as it takes. 

“Today is our 100th day of striking and we’re striking for the same thing we were on Day One, which is a fair contract,” he mentioned. “We have the same two pages of proposals and the studios have not yet responded to all those proposals … so I guess until that happens, we’ll still be out here.” 

Wednesday’s milestone comes because the U.S. movie and tv industries stay paralyzed by twin strikes by its actors and screenwriters. There’s no foreseeable finish, a negotiating session final week involving Hollywood studios and streamers and the hanging writers ended with little progress.

Television networks are a month away from beginning a brand new fall season, and broadcasters have already put contingency plans in place for programming that excludes their hottest scripted sequence. 

Hollywood’s actors started their strike on July 14, creating the primary twin strike since 1960. Issues at play for each unions embrace the usage of synthetic intelligence and residuals associated to streaming. 

The Writers Guild of America held particular pickets marking the a centesimal day in each New York and Los Angeles. Outside the Netflix places of work on Broadway in Manhattan, the scene had an upbeat really feel. A gentle stream of protesters, each writers and their actor allies in SAG-AFTRA, danced, pounded on drums and chanted slogans as they marched across the metropolis block. 

Befitting writers, indicators had been markedly artistic: “This Barbie is striking!!!” “Not Kenough.” “The only free writing you deserve is this sign.” “Writers make people happy (and sad).” And the easy: “No wages, no pages.” 

Nicole Conlan, a hanging comedy author for “The Daily Show,” mentioned that regardless of being on strike since May 2, she’s been so busy organizing on the picket traces that “I woke up today, the 100th day, and it feels like we’ve just started.” 

“We don’t want to be out of work,” mentioned Conlan, 33, “but the mood is very high because we still have all this support after 100 days. Compared to previous strikes, it really feels like people understand what we’re doing and people still are really throwing their support behind us.” 

“The things that we’re fighting for apply not just to the industry but to the entire economy,” Conlan mentioned.

“In every industry, people can see Wall Street and tech finding a way to make careers into gig jobs, so even though we do a very weird kind of job, writing, it’s easy for the layperson to see our jobs becoming gig jobs, and to see how that applies to their job as a nurse, or as a flight attendant, or as a construction worker.” 

Vicki Winters, a standup comedian who was picketing alongside the writers, performed the drums as her colleagues marched. “Corporate greed has got to go,” mentioned Winters, 66. “They are taking advantage of the workers of the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild, pretty much every worker that’s at the ground level … while billionaires, millionaires choose a number they pull out of the air, like ‘I’m going to pay myself USD 11 million,’ and meanwhile the guy downstairs is going to make USD 7.25 an hour.”