As you may have heard, on Monday the Writers Guild of America went on Strike, shutting down production of all film and television projects. While this will have far reaching effects on all entertainment, it could also impact comics in a few different ways. 

First there’s the tragic losses – Pete Davidson’s return to SNL will be delayed until god knows when – but it’s also affecting comics folks who tarry in other fields. 

Stopped work today on some dream (secret) Hollywood projects. Absolutely devastated, but in no way regretful. WGA is fighting to make it possible to tell incredible stories. I’m with the writers and the creators trying to make worlds out of words.

— Tom King (@TomKingTK) May 2, 2023

“Stopped work today on some dream (secret) Hollywood projects,” wrote Tom King. “Absolutely devastated, but in no way regretful. WGA is fighting to make it possible to tell incredible stories. I’m with the writers and the creators trying to make worlds out of words.”

The strike is expected to last at the very least through July (when actors and directors face their own contract negotiations), and it could have an impact on Comic-Con, as discussed at the USDCC Blog. While it’s all admittedly “What if” (the last strike didn’t last until summer, and Comic-Con was not a Hollywood showcase during the 1988 strike) at the very least, writers would not be allowed to promote their work at the fest, and producers might not feel that promotion is the best use of time if the strike is dragging on. But there are several other ticking time bombs:

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is set to begin their own negotiations with the AMPTA on May 10, and their contract expires June 30. SAG-AFTRA, the Screen Actors Guild comprised of actors, begins their negotiations on June 7, and their contract also expires June 30. According to Deadline, there are currently talks that both organizations could theoretically strike in solidarity with the writers if an agreement is not reached before June 30.

Should either organization strike, their members would also be prevented from doing publicity on their projects — meaning there is a world in which no actors are allowed to promote their upcoming projects at San Diego Comic-Con.

And if you think you’re not into Hollywood stuff anyway, and you prefer the show floor, we have one question for you: Just where do you think the thousands of attendees normally in Hall H and Ballroom 20 are going to flock to instead? The answer is very likely the exhibit floor, making even exclusives lines longer and more difficult to obtain.

As we said, all just a guess, but the stakes in this strike are very high (see below) and no one is expecting a speedy resolution. 

Another factor that has been brought up on twitter a few times: during the last strike, which ran from November 2007 to February 2008, screenwriters began to eye comics as a market for their work, and in at least one case, the regular writer of a book was removed in favor of a screenwriter type. There’s also this:

COMIC PEEPS: Be wary of Spec Scripts trying to be adapted into comics… https://t.co/Og8KL8hsZq

— Sean Von Gorman (of Comics) is at #C2E2 Booth W-9 (@VonGormanArt) May 3, 2023

Comics folks are supporting the strike, and this isn’t a turf war. And let’s face it, page rates in comics are so low, and opportunities that even pay page rates are down from 2007. Or as Jody Houser put it:  

Picketed in 2007, will picket again. Last time because I dreamed of writing for the screen and joining the WGA, this time because I still want to write for the screen but have somehow been more financially stable in comics. https://t.co/4mWFl0woTO

— Jody Houser (@Jody_Houser) May 2, 2023

Still, if the strike drags on, there could be more crossover. Or it could even be happening already…

Already getting emails from screenwriters looking for artists to do their graphic novels….

— Victoria Ying HUNGRY GHOST Out Now! (@victoriaying) May 2, 2023

The replies and quote tweets on that one give the range of opinions, mostly “Not cool.” 

Of course, this is a chance for another perennial topic to be raised yet again: why don’t comics creators have a union, they need one! We’ve discussed the problems with this several times, but the short version is that legally, freelancers/independent contractors can’t form a union any more. The WGA and DGA were grandfathered in. There has been some talk over the years of comics writers being able to join the Animation Guild, which is part of IATSE, but I don’t think it ever turned out to be feasible. 

There’s another problem with that: animation writers AREN’T automatically covered by the WGA, and get paid much less than for live action, although apparently you can apply to have it covered. During the early pandemic, when animation production was going strong, there was a move to try to cover more animated projects, but that didn’t go far either. 

Looking at the bigger picture, streamers, the main source of the current dispute, seem to have tons of shows stockpiled, so we probably won’t see unscripted “reality” shows clog the HDMI cables unless the strike goes on for a very, very long time. But the development pipeline of comics to screen, which had already slowed a lot, is now even alower, and as we’ve already learned, that can have a chilling effect on comics publishers. 

So yeah, a lot is in play and this will be a very costly strike. The 2007-08 strike cost us the George Miller JLA movie, and I’m still bummed about that. 

Nonetheless, the WGA is standing up for very important rights, rights that affect a lot of creative people, and it’s kind of shocking to look at this list of Hollywood strikes and see that writers comprise the majority of strike action. A DGA strike in 1987 lasted all of THREE HOURS. (There have been a few strikes by actors, including one in 1980, and a commercial actor strike in 2000.)

I’ll round this out with some links that explain the stakes and why this is important. Long ago Beat contributor Todd Alcott has a lot of great material on his FB page, but this is a good summary of previous issues:  

When DVD came along, producers said “It’s an experimental format, we have no idea if we’ll make money off it.” For 20 years, DVD sales kept studios afloat and gave them a second chance to recoup losses. By the time 2008 rolled around, DVD sales were down and writers never earned a dime in residuals. At that point, blu-ray was the new format, and the producers said “it’s an experimental format, we have no idea if we’ll make money off it.” Blu-ray carried the market for the next fifteen years. Now the WGA contract is up again, and the producers are saying, no really, “streaming is an experimental format, we have no idea if we’ll make money off it.” Oddly enough, actors and directors and producers and showrunners all get residuals, just not writers. Why? Because writers are easiest to kick around. Screenwriters get abused every day in Hollywood, by pretty much everyone. The studio intern that brings in the bottled water to the pitch meeting has more power than the writer in the room.

Sometimes comics writer and co-creator of Leverage and The Librarians John Rogers has a great twitter feed that’s full of great links, and he kicked things off with this explainer:

1) Something (very stupid) you’re going to see over the next weeks are people arguing that screenwriters are being unreasonable. “Times have changed”. No. Times WERE changed. By SOMEBODY. By PEOPLE, making CHOICES.

— John Rogers (@jonrog1) May 2, 2023

And another great thread by Javier Grillo-Marxauch, writer on Lost, Dark Crystal and Marvel’s Annihilation, among other things (You can read the whole thread here.)

why is the #wga on strike? because the producers refuse to give writers a livable basic standard of job security, compensation, and career mobility: tv writing used to be a hard and difficult road to a very desirable destination…

— javier grillo-marxuach (@OKBJGM) May 2, 2023

Grillo-Marxauch bring ups something that a lot of people have: the ridiculous compensation paid to the heads of studios as shown in this much retweeted graphic. As he puts it:

But, in the intervening years, the profession has devolved. Streamers are ordering shorter seasons, and the residuals model that used to give network writers a reliable income is out the window. The ladder from junior writer to showrunner has become murkier, with some people repeating steps like repeating grades, and others being flung to the top without the requisite experience, in order to meet demand for new content. Studios are cutting writing budgets to the bone by hiring fewer people for shorter time periods, often without paying for lower-level writers to be on set during production, which makes it all but impossible to learn the skills necessary to run a show. On “Roar,” Flahive said, “we had to fight to budget for writers to prep and produce their episodes,” and some of her writers had never been to the set of shows they’d worked on, “which is astonishing to me.

Finally, while everyone is talking about the experience of the last strike, 15 years ago, no one is talking abut the one before, in 1988, because if you were around for that you’re old and shouldn’t be working anyway. That’s actually the strike I have first hand knowledge of (I’m self employed, so I don’t care if I’m old.) I was working at the Hollywood Reporter at the time, and the whole town slowed to a crawl, and my screenwriter step-father regularly hit the picket lines. Among the hardships that were endured, the tables at then hot spots like Le Dome and Spago were emptied of the once coveted lunch meetings. The entire trickle down economy trickled down. 

Like the last two WGA strikes – like all strikes – this one will be costly for not only entertainment but all the businesses that rely on it. But the WGA is fighting for transparency (why are streamers so damned vague about numbers when they have them all?) and the right to be treated fairly as the indispensable creators of so many unforgettable moments that have touched us all. It’s an important battle and it’s one I support, in case you hadn’t figured it out. 

Half the internet is just one second animations showcasing individual lines of scripted dialog that were so instantly powerful that they rewired our brains and changed the way we talk to each other permanently. pic.twitter.com/CsBwEd1YEE

— Daniel Kibblesmith (@kibblesmith) May 2, 2023

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