Writers who recently joined the WGA say it’s a “chaotic time to enter the industry” — but are hopeful the strike will help them “in the long run.”
The WGA has been on strike for three months now and writers are still on the picket lines.
Two staff writers, Tika Peterson and David Gabriel, opened up to TooFab at the Culver Studios about what it’s like to enter the industry right as both the writers and actors unions boycott the studios.
“We joined the guild in February,” revealed Gabriel. “We’re really new to it.”
Writers who recently joined the WGA say it’s a “chaotic time to enter the industry,” but are hopeful the strike will help them “in the long run” pic.twitter.com/1xYtku2JbV
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“As a team, we only get paid as one person,” he continued. “So raising the minimums is something really important to us so that we can make a living with something we’ve been doing for a really long time.”
Peterson also notes “the streaming market has sort of changed everything.”
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“We’ve seen in the past 100 years the way that they are really cutting costs at every place that they can. I personally think it leads to work that isn’t as strong,” said Peterson.
“It’s crazy that we used to be able to use our residuals check to live and now we’re getting very very little and the companies won’t share the data of how many people are watching.”
“We knew that it was probably going to happen for a couple months,” said Peterson of the strike. “Even when we got our jobs, we were like, ‘Oh, we might not get to finish the room out.’ We kind of were prepared for it in that way.”
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“I also think we’re going to benefit most out of everyone because we’re right at the beginning,” added Gabriel.
“It’s a chaotic time to enter the industry but whatever results come from it are going to help us out a lot in the long run.”
The pair are also ecstatic to see the support for the strikes from the public and those in the industry.
“Being out here on the picket line, it’s really cool to feel this sense of community, especially now with SAG fighting,” said Gabriel.
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“As early career writers it’s really important to have this sense of collective action.”
They also appreciated that the support is coming “all at different levels,” noting that the captains striking “range from showrunners to staff writers.”
“It’s awesome to see that and I think there’s been lots of A-List supporters from the WGA as well. It’s really encouraging,” added Peterson. “Those people are using their platforms to elevate everybody.”
“It’s one of the coolest things about being out here,” she concluded. “You meet so many people who write things that are totally different from you but you’re all kind of in it together.”
