The American entertainment industry is increasingly experiencing the consequences of the writers’ strike. Tuesday report international news agencies that the productions of big hit series like The Handmaid’s Tale and the prequel to Game of Thrones were discontinued. It is not known whether the scheduled broadcasts of the series will be compromised. Last week, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), a collective of film and television writers, called for a strike.
According to the screenwriters, producers such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and Disney are using the arrival of streaming services to worsen working conditions. The sector demands higher wages, more security, better pensions and protection against the rise of artificial intelligence, which threatens copyrights. Despite a “generous offer” according to the Hollywood studios, a new employment contract was not reached last week.
Monday wrote George R. R. Martinthe author of the Game of Thronesseries on his blog featuring the screenwriters of his prequel series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knighta spin-off of Game of Thrones stop working because of the strike. “No one wanted this, but the producers and the studios and the networks and the streamers left us no choice,” said Martin.
No late night shows
A producer of the popular drama series The Handmaid’s Tale leave tell Reuters that production of the series was stopped in the middle of the process for the same reason. Also the final season of the Netflix series Stranger Things and the Marvel movie Blade were shut down. Late night shows like Late Showthe TonightShow and Jimmy Kimmel Live have not been broadcast since last week.
It is not the first time that the film industry has been confronted with a collective strike. In 2007, Hollywood screenwriters laid off work for 100 days. Even then, one of the key issues was compensation from production houses for new media, such as the on demandservices on the internet. Several productions were scrapped, shortened or postponed. Seasons including breaking bad, FamilyGuy and The Office were shortened at the time.
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