Michael Phillips: In the teeth of the WGA strike, Chicago-based screenwriters talk about pay issues — and artificial intelligence
CHICAGO — Now in its third week, the Writers Guild of America strike affects its 11,500 members and, more and more, the work you’re watching on one screen or another, and the work you aren’t.
The WGA strike has shut down production on an increasing number of shows, Showtime’s ”The Chi” being the most recent Chicago example. Filming sites have been disrupted and, in more and more cases, shut down by strike actions; creators of projects in postproduction have halted work for now, in solidarity. And unless an 11th-hour solution can be reached and the WGA issues a modified strike waiver, there won’t be a Tony Awards show televised this year on June 11.
When negotiations reached an impasse last month between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), representing more than 350 film and television companies, the standoff acquired an industry nickname in many quarters: “the Netflix strike.” The streaming giant reportedly has dug in the deepest regarding writer compensation, residual payments and other economic challenges for working writers, or writers who used to
