'No writers. No TV': Hollywood scribes strike over pay
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00:00 Hollywood screenwriters have hit the streets
00:02 and this time what they're writing about is anything but fictional.
00:06 No contract, no scripts.
00:09 No contract, no scripts.
00:11 Hundreds of writers gathered in front of Netflix headquarters
00:14 on day one of the first writer's strike in 15 years.
00:18 The streaming giant, a major symbol of an industry which has changed so much.
00:23 They have been around for a while now
00:26 but no adjustments have really been made since that time
00:30 so it's reached a critical mass at this point
00:33 where we're willing to strike over it
00:35 because they've shown an unwillingness to do it without striking.
00:39 Among their demands, better pay,
00:42 mandatory staffing to ensure more writers are involved in the creative process
00:46 and guarantees against artificial intelligence.
00:49 You can't steal our soul.
00:50 They really want to replace us.
00:52 They'll be like, "Oh, you know, no need for copyrights,
00:54 no need for royalty, no need for anything."
00:56 It's not just Hollywood's youngest media behemoths that are being targeted.
01:00 Similar protests were held across the city, including at Sony headquarters.
01:05 Our residuals that we used to get from airing on television around the world,
01:10 streaming companies don't give us, they give us a petty pittance of residuals.
01:15 We're not getting the money we used to get.
01:17 The entertainment industry could be in for a rough ride.
01:20 Both directors and actors unions will also be entering negotiations in the next few weeks.
01:25 Without the writers, we can't work.
01:28 So if there's no writers to write any of the shows that we want to work and be on,
01:32 it directly impacts us too.
01:33 Just like if the actors are on strike, the writers have nothing or nobody to write for.
01:38 The attention will quickly turn now to how long this strike will go on.
01:42 For 15 years ago, it went on for 100 days,
01:45 costing the Los Angeles area $2 billion.
01:49 As for the writers themselves,
01:50 the Writers Guild has a $20 million fund to cover the writers for the duration of this strike.