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Writers Guild of America may strike; AHS drama teacher Stillwell weighs in

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) might strike starting May 2, 2017. Their current contract is ending, and they are wanting better pay and benefits.

The last time the WGA went on strike was in November of 2007. The strike lasted for 100 days and ended in February of 2008. This strike led to multiple delays to movies and television shows or even scripts being written in a week. Many networks even canceled shows because of the strike. Some notable TV shows and movies that were affected by this were The Amazing Race, The Office, Jericho, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Mrs. Stillwell says she remembers the strike, but was not aware of the new one.

The 10 year contract the WGA has is over on May 1, 2017. Television networks are not meeting the writer's request for pay and benefits. As cable television is being outdone by streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, TV seasons are getting shorter and shorter. Advertisers are moving from cable TV to different mediums to advertise. This leads to less money for the network, so less money to produce episodes. Regular seasons use to be 20+ episodes, now they are between 8-16. With the decrease in episodes, it is less money the writers are getting. Many Airport students didn't even know the strike was going on.

Seniors Sarah Harmon and McKenna Medlin both said they watch YouTube and Netflix more than cable TV. They do hope things get worked out soon though.

As well as a decline in views, seasonal DVD sales are declining because of steaming services. This also leads to networks making less money.

The strike majorly affects late night comedies such as Saturday Night Live (SNL), The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Conan O’Brien. This type of TV show are written weekly, if not daily. So the strike would cause them more damage. They are getting writers to write episodes before they go on strike, so they will have something to use.

Mrs Stilwell said in response to episodes being written beforehand, “I understand why they are doing it, but it does lose the timeliness of each episode being written daily.”

Senior Sarah Harmon said, “I understands why the strike is going on, the writers just want the pay they deserve and not have their healthcare and insurance messed up.


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