The Existential Crisis at the Heart of the Hollywood Writers’ Strike

Podcast: The Political Scene | The New Yorker
Air Date: May 10, 2023
Host: Tyler Foggatt
Guest: Michael Shulman (Staff Writer, The New Yorker)

Overview

This episode delves into the Hollywood Writers’ Strike of 2023, examining the "existential crisis" facing TV writers amid seismic industry shifts. Host Tyler Foggatt interviews staff writer Michael Shulman, who shares insights from interviews with striking Writers Guild of America (WGA) members, exploring the structural, financial, creative, and technological pressures fueling the strike. The episode contextualizes the strike against the broader backdrop of streaming, the shift toward franchise content, mini writers’ rooms, and the rise of AI. Drawing parallels to earlier labor actions, Foggatt and Shulman consider both the immediate and potential long-term cultural impacts of the strike.

Key Themes & Discussion Points

1. How Streaming Changed Writers’ Livelihoods

• Old Model: TV writers used to have stable, well-paying jobs with year-long employment and lucrative residuals from syndication and DVD sales.
  • "You would work on a 22 episode season... and then after that you get paid residuals... You could live a pretty good life, a middle class sustainable existence in a pretty expensive city like Los Angeles."
    (Michael Shulman, 02:52)
• New Reality: Smaller writers’ rooms (so-called ‘mini rooms’), fewer episodes, shorter employment, and lower pay. Streaming offers little in the way of transparent or substantial residual payments.
  • "TV writers are basically living like gig workers... not knowing where their next gig is coming from because these are not longer sustainable jobs."
    (Michael Shulman, 03:55)
• Data Opacity: Lack of streaming data impedes fair compensation.
  • "Netflix doesn't even release their data on what people watch. So that's another bone of contention."
    (Michael Shulman, 04:33)

2. Erosion of Creative Respect and Job Satisfaction

• Historic Underappreciation: Hollywood traditionally undervalues writers, but stable pay was the tradeoff.
  • "The cliché has always been like, Hollywood treats writers like garbage. You know, it's a director's medium... But the trade off is that you get money."
    (Michael Shulman, 05:11)
• Shift in Content Incentives: Rise of "franchise-ization" means originality is deprioritized; studios seek proven IP (e.g., Batman, Harry Potter) over fresh voices.
  • "You can show an original script...and they'll love it, and then say, okay, this is great, but which of the following Batman projects would you like to work on?"
    (Michael Shulman, 08:01)
• Social and Creative Isolation: Mini rooms and Zoom meetings undermine the collaborative, iterative nature of traditional writers’ rooms, hurting both writers’ career development and the quality of TV.

3. Industry Incentives and the Streaming Gold Rush

• Streaming’s Promises and Pitfalls: Hollywood’s rush to streaming not only altered writers' pay but also "drove the industry over a cliff," undermining the economics of TV production.
  • "When Netflix arrived on the scene, everyone said they're going to drive the industry over a cliff, but then everyone piled into the car."
    (Michael Shulman, 10:03)
• Financial Uncertainty: Studios' reliance on eye-catching franchises is an attempt to reassure shareholders, but often at the expense of risk-taking in creative development.

4. State of the Strike and Dynamics with Studios

• Stalemate: As of recording, studios and writers are far apart on negotiations, with no talks scheduled.
  • "They haven't restarted negotiations since the strike began... Everyone seems to think that they are very far apart."
    (Michael Shulman, 11:50)
• Key Players: Modern AMPTP includes tech giants like Amazon, Apple, and Netflix—each with distinct business models.
• Solidarity: This strike is marked by unity across Hollywood unions (WGA, IATSE, Teamsters, DGA, SAG).
  • "There's way more solidarity. Last time it was really just the writers."
    (Michael Shulman, 28:24)

5. The ‘Netflixification’ of Hollywood

• Perceived Villainy: Netflix, credited with setting the modern streaming model, is a primary target of anger among writers.
  • "In Hollywood, the picket lines outside of Netflix have the rawest, angriest emotion of all of them."
    (Michael Shulman, 12:45)
• Preparedness: Netflix and other streamers have large content stockpiles, allowing them to "wait it out"—a critical difference from past strikes.
• Programming Impacts: Immediate effects on late-night shows, with scripted series delays to follow.
  • "Already the late night shows...those are instantly affected and they go dark...Then the next thing to be affected will be scripted dramas and comedies."
    (Michael Shulman, 15:14)

6. Mini Rooms, Career Progression, and Declining TV Quality

• Impact on Aspiring Writers: Writers lose the opportunity to work on set and learn the ropes, threatening the pipeline for future showrunners.
  • "They don't get experience that helps them climb the ladder to become a showrunner..."
    (Michael Shulman, 18:55)
• Quality Risks: Absence of writers on set means fewer script adjustments, less adaptive storytelling.
  • "When you have writers on set, it makes the shows better...the idea that you can have scripts for an entire season and then it just goes off and gets made and the writers are cut out, that's sort of what these companies are trying to do."
    (Michael Shulman, 19:06)

7. Role of AI in the Writers’ Demands

• Guardrails on Use: Writers seek explicit limitations on how AI can be used during script development. Studios’ reluctance to negotiate on this point has intensified writers’ fears.
  • "According to them, because the producers...said absolutely not, it suddenly raised a big red flag. It's like, what are you planning? How soon are you going to replace us all with robots?"
    (Michael Shulman, 22:01)
• Potential Threats: Studios might use AI to create preliminary drafts or low-quality outlines for human writers to fill out—at much lower rates.
• Copyright Concerns: AI-generated writing cannot be protected in the same way under current law.

8. Broader Labor Implications and Public Perception

• Visibility of the Strike: High-profile coverage (and industry-wide solidarity) sets this action apart, raising public awareness of creative labor issues.
• Comparison to Other Strikes: The strike is part of a broader wave of labor unrest, but gets more attention due to the public’s connection to TV.
  • "Labor strikes can have an infectious quality, and they can inspire other people and other industries."
    (Michael Shulman, 30:44)
• Perception of Writer Wealth: Media often highlights millionaire showrunners, which skews perceptions; most writers are gig workers living paycheck-to-paycheck.
  • "That is not the average person who makes a living as a television writer."
    (Michael Shulman, 26:48)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Creative Frustration:
  "Everyone's meeting on Zoom now instead of in an actual writer's room... There’s just a lot of stress and unhappiness all around. And also this sense that, you know, it’s not this golden age of fresh, original ideas that it once was."
  — Michael Shulman [08:01]

• On Mini Rooms:
  "Writers are paid their minimum, and then they disperse, and they’re not brought on set. They can’t continue to do rewrites, and the showrunner is sort of left alone to finish out an entire season of television."
  — Michael Shulman [08:14]

• On the Inevitable Financial Crunch:
  "A young writer for my piece named Alex O’Keefe...showed up [to the WGA Awards] in a bow tie that he had bought on credit...and he had a negative bank account. And he's now told me he is now applying for jobs to work at movie theaters because of the strike.”
  — Michael Shulman [32:48]

• On Strike Solidarity and Mood:
  "The writers that I have talked to are almost giddy with, you know, this sense of fight. Going to a picket line in LA is almost like a party atmosphere...my favorite [sign] is 'pay us or we'll spoil Succession.'”
  — Michael Shulman [28:55]

• On Existential Stakes:
  _"The word that keeps coming up is existential. So they know that this is not just about the next three months. It’s about whether they can even remain in this business, whether this remains a profession in the way that it has been."
  — Michael Shulman [34:07]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:52] — Structural changes to TV writing and pay under streaming
• [05:11] — Historic treatment (and compensation) of writers in Hollywood
• [07:58] — Franchise obsession and decline in originality
• [10:03] — The streaming gold rush and its pitfalls
• [11:50] — Negotiation status and sides’ positions
• [12:45] — Netflix as a focal point of anger
• [18:01] — Impact of mini rooms and "second screen content"
• [21:09] — Frustrations extend to executives, not just writers
• [22:01] — The AI question and WGA contingency planning
• [24:55] — The (overstated) rise of reality TV after past strikes
• [26:48] — Myth vs. reality in TV writers' earnings
• [28:24] — Unprecedented labor solidarity
• [28:55] — Writers’ morale and goals
• [30:44] — Broader labor implications and public attention
• [32:48] — The economic toll of the strike on individual writers
• [34:07] — Stakes: The existential nature of the fight

Conclusion

The episode paints the current writers’ strike as a flashpoint in the ongoing struggle between art and commerce—one shaped by seismic technological change and evolving business practices. It's not only about fair pay, but about the very survival of writing as a stable profession, the health of creative pipelines, and the future quality of the entertainment that defines our culture. Through firsthand accounts, sharp industry analysis, and a deep dive into the writers’ demands, the conversation brings the personal and systemic stakes into sharp focus.

For further reading:

• "Why Are TV Writers So Miserable?" by Michael Shulman (The New Yorker)