WGA-AFTRA Strikes: Indian screenwriters voice support; advocate for equitable recognition, fair compensation
By Team Newsable | First Published Jul 17, 2023, 11:27 AM ISTHollywood experiences historic strikes as writers and actors protest for better wages, residuals, and against the use of artificial intelligence. Indian writers hope for positive changes in the industry but remain skeptical due to existing restrictions. Some writers in India are optimistic about progress in recognizing writers' contributions----by Amrita Ghosh
According to reports, there has been an increase in labour agitation since the onset of the Covid-19 outbreak. The creative industry is only one of the many fields that has been taken over by artificial intelligence. After six weeks of discussion, on May 2 of this year, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which represents around 11,500 screenwriters, went on strike due to a dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The writers' continued demand for more residuals from streaming services is an essential component of their demand. They have been holding demonstrations in front of the corporate headquarters of Disney and Netflix in the United States in order to express their demand for an increase in the number of available writing rooms. In addition to this, they have been speaking out against the declining wages and the increased use of artificial intelligence in the creative positions that they hold.
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Approximately two months later, what has further fueled this protest is a strike by the American actors' organisation, SAG-AFTRA. This strike began about a week ago. On July 14, more than 150,000 television and film performers from Hollywood joined the screenwriters in a strike, making it the first time the entire entertainment industry in Hollywood has gone on strike in more than sixty years. The event for the red carpet premiere of Oppenheimer in the United States was cancelled out of solidarity with the SAG-AFTRA strike. In recent weeks, members of the cast including Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, and Emily Blunt walked out of the middle of a screening in the UK.
Even while performers have been fighting their own battles and voicing their own set of complaints, writer Saiwyn Quadras believes that the situation has shifted the focus back to the screenwriters. "They are not acting as a unit in this. Everyone is fighting for their own individual liberties. On the other hand, all of this is going to have an effect on the studios in a certain way. There has been virtually little coverage of the writer's strike despite the fact that it has been going on for a full month now. Because nobody cares about a writer's voice, it was only reported in the beginning for a week or ten days. After that, there was radio silence on the topic. However, the actors from Oppenheimer have decided to boycott the advertisements at this time. Because of this, the strike is getting a lot of attention once more," he explains.
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The upcoming picture that Quadras is working on, which stars Ajay Devgn, is titled Maidaan. Quadras hopes that the strike in Hollywood will have repercussions in the Indian film industry, but he is concerned that the light at the end of the tunnel is not particularly bright. He continues by explaining, "The reality can be a little bit different. I'm sceptical. Yes, we do have platforms like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+ Hotstar running here in India. However, even before the strike, these platforms had certain restrictions that writers were required to labour under, and these clauses were significantly different from the clauses that are in place elsewhere. It's almost as if they run their business on an entirely separate planet. We can have hope that there will be standard practises all over the world, including India, in reference to notably the writers if the studios do embrace the requests of the worldwide writers' collectives, and we can say that we have such optimism. That's wishful thinking, but I don't think it's going to come true."
On the other hand, writer and creator Suparn S Varma, who rose to prominence with Amazon Prime Video's The Family Man, is optimistic and believes that dialogues to bring about beneficial changes for writers in India have already begun. The Family Man catapulted Varma to fame. "The bright side is that we are fortunate enough to live in a world that is significantly more educated than it was in the past. Producers and platforms are becoming more aware of the idea that everything starts with the writers and that they should be respected for their contributions. While we are still a very long way from the things that the WGA and the SAG-AFRA are fighting for, there has been a lot of progress made in the past ten to fifteen years, and maybe there will be much more progress made in the future.
He continues by explaining, "The more educated writers are about their rights, and the more educated producers are about a writer's rights, the pay and functioning changes." And it's changing slowly. Conversations will continue to take place between the two of them. They are dependent on one another in order to function properly; a producer is useless without a script, and vice versa. This is a connection that benefits both parties. Both must coexist or neither will work. Respect for one another is of the utmost importance. Making changes requires time. Things are moving along at a steady pace. Conversations are also taking place, albeit perhaps not at the same advanced level. It's possible that none of us will witness the outcomes of this discussion, but someone undoubtedly will.
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