Hollywood studios would rather writers lose their homes than come to an agreement

Here’s some shocking news for you: according to reports, Hollywood studios aren’t looking to negotiate with the WGA during the Writers Strike. No, their strategy is actually to starve out their workforce and effectively bankrupt them all.

A a few studio executives anonymously discussed their point-of-view about the Writers Strike (via Deadline), which is now in its 71st day. According to these insiders, the plan is to essentially “break the WGA”.

Additionally, these studio heads, along with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in general, have no intention of negotiating with the WGA, even if the Screen Actors Guild also goes on strike.

In fact, one executive went so far as to say, “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.” Another insider reportedly called it “a cruel but necessary evil.”

This should be a scandal of major proportions — we’re just coming out of a pandemic that’s lasted for three years. The average writer doesn’t own a mansion in the Hollywood Hills the same way the average executive does. And Americans have a right to unions, so what’s this talk about ‘breaking’ the WGA? Is that not an infringement of their rights?

People have lost their loved ones, their homes, their incomes — and this is how they’re treated? The callousness with which the statement was made is absolutely stunning; it would be like something out of a comedy sketch if it weren’t so tragically real. Why, exactly, is it a “necessary evil” to force writers to lose their homes? Especially when the strike will end up being more expensive than simply cutting a deal with the WGA!

Would you stand for it if your boss told you that they would rather you lose your home than give you a small raise? Some extra assurance that you won’t be replaced by AI, that your work won’t be erased from existence, or that they won’t swamp you with work and pay you peanuts? It’s such an out-of-touch statement as well — executives provide financing, planning, and other logistical efforts, but they would have none of their wealth and success if they did not have writers or actors working under them.

To suggest that it’s a “necessary evil” for their workforce to become homeless — no. There’s definitely something ‘evil’ in that scenario, but whoever that anonymous executive was? They’ve got it wrong. This situation has become something greater — it’s about the rights of all workers, the right to fight for respect from the bosses they support, the right to run their own lives, and the right to dignity. This report should be a damning condemnation of the AMPTP. In fact, here’s a support page for those in the WGA who are unable to work — support the rights of workers if you can.