WGA East Council Candidates Eye Next Year’s Contract Talks & Possible Writers’ Strike

deadline.com:

Next year’s negotiations for a new WGA film and TV contract – and a possible writers’ strike – were front and center in campaign statements posted by several candidates in the WGA East’s ongoing Council elections.

The WGA’s current contract, known as the Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA), expires on May 1, 2023. This is the guild’s first election since its members voted overwhelmingly in June to restructure the guild to ensure a more “balanced representation” among its three newly-designated work sectors: film/television/streaming, broadcast/cable/streaming news and online media.In one of only two contested races, seven candidates – including six incumbents – are vying for six seats on the Council representing the film/TV/streaming work sector.

Here are excerpts from their campaign statements:“As we approach the 2023 MBA negotiations, we face the serious threat of a potential strike,” wrote incumbent Monica Lee Bellais, noting that if reelected she will “continue to serve the best interests of WGAE members as our union moves forward to take on the next set of challenges, including dealing with the growing influence of the global production market.”Many of the film/TV/streaming sector candidates agreed that eliminating the longstanding practice of free rewrites during the development of films and TV shows will be a major issue at next year’s contract negotiations.

Other issues that need to be addressed, they said, include higher minimum pay rates, bigger streaming residuals, more secure pension and health benefits, greater equity & inclusion, and the curbing of mini-rooms, where groups of underpaid writers are gathered in advance of the production of a television series to break stories and write scripts.