Black-Ass Solidarity with WGA ✊🏾
Welcome to This Black-Ass Life! Black history is union history, and we want to talk about the Black-ass importance of the writers strike and how you can support them in solidarity.
I. The Facts
On May 2, 2023, the 2023 Writers Guild of America (WGA), a labor union representing 11,500 writers, went on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
The WGA represents writers in film, TV, documentaries, news, animation, video games, and new media. The AMPTP is a trade association that represents over 350 American film and TV production companies, including broadcasters and streamers like Disney, Paramount, and Netflix.
Negotiations broke down last week between AMPTP and WGA, and it resulted in the largest labor stoppage since production halted during the COVID-19 quarantines in 2020 and since the 2007–08 writer strike.
The most critical point of contention is the residuals writers get from streaming media since the last agreement only covered residuals from writers in broadcast television. Further, the WGA wants artificial intelligence like ChatGPT only as a tool that can help facilitate script ideas and not a tool that would be used to displace writers.
The WGA estimated its proposals would yield writers about $429 million a year, the AMPTP counteroffer would yield $86 million. Note that just one Executive, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, was paid $250 million last year. 1 (ONE) Executive.
Why does it matter?
This is a story about corporate greed. It always is. From More Perfect Union, “In 2000, the combined entertainment operating profits of Disney, Fox, Paramount, NBC, Universal, and Time Warner were approximately $5 billion. By 2019, adding in Netflix, they were $30 billion. Streaming has boosted corporate profits, but writers are actually earning less now.”
Francesca Ramsey put on her best Decoded breakdown voice and explained clearly why this is a Black-ass issue. Black writers and creators are less likely to have wealth or connections. They’re also more likely to be lower level staff writers.
It’s important for Black writers and other writers of color to win a contract that increases minimum compensation, limits exploitive “mini-rooms,” ensures compensation through pre-production, production, and post-production, and more strongly enforces pay equity.
Read about this Black writer who was writing for The Office and ended up folding clothes at a department store after writers’ rooms shrunk following the 07-08 WGA strike.
Black writers, like all workers, deserve to be able to support themselves and their loved ones through fair wages earned for their hard work. Simple maths, friends!
What can my Black ass do?
Keep up with the status of writers’ negotiations.
Find a picket line near you to join or drop off treats (or donate to the snack list).
Share the link or donate directly to people in entertainment who are not working.
Join the fun and start a union at your job if you don’t have one.
II. Other Things
Black-ass happenings
Whoopi is making a graphic novel about menopause.
Here are more books to check out (library pun!) this May.
Revisiting iLoveMakonnen and music that challenged masculinity in rap.
More congrats for Simone Biles and her husband!
Chloe x Halle are just precious.
We promise you will not find a more talented dancer than Kaavia James.
Our Black-Ass song(s) of the week (Mitu):
Summer is here so I’m revisiting songs that make me happy and want to get up and dance, and one of those without fail is Bey’s Schoolin’ Life.
Things we look forward to:
I (Mitu) look forward to a Fast & Furious marathon with Jumoke so we can catch up and watch Fast X in theaters with the FAMILY.
I (Jumoke) look forward to Mitu and I dressing like Dominic Toretto for the premiere of Fast X.
lll. Text from a Black-Ass Parent
My sister and I (Jumoke) hyped our dad and his fire fit he’s wearing to visit London.
Stay Black, have a snack, and take a nap today. We'll hit your inbox next on May 23!