‘Peak TV’ proves to be bad news for writers
LOS ANGELES Stuart Zicherman knows he has an enviable job as a Hollywood television writer. Right now, he’s working on plot twists for the acclaimed HBO series Divorce, starring Sarah Jessica Parker. Last year, he worked on Showtime’s The Affair. Before that, he wrote for The Americans on FX.
In this era of what is being called ‘‘Peak TV’’ – with networks, cable outlets and streaming services such as Netflix making a record number of scripted series each year and demanding creative storylines – Zicherman often feels like there are no limits to imagination or expense.
But he and many other Hollywood writers are experiencing an unexpected side effect of what has become, for most consumers, a flood of ambitious TV: a steep pay cut.
The median pay for TV writers has declined 23 per cent in the last three years, according to the Writers Guild of America West, one of the unions representing 12,000 Hollywood writers who plan to go on strike as early as Tuesday if a new contract with the makers of film and TV series is not reached. Late-night talk shows and daytime soap operas would go dark immediately, and other shows could be forced to halt production.
The looming strike shows how the TV content boom – made possible in large part by streaming and other disruptive technology – isn’t benefiting the people who come up with the ideas behind that content.
Studios are producing more TV than ever before, with 500 scripted shows in production this year alone. But writers are paid per episode, and popular series such as HBO’s Game of Thrones typically produce less than half as many episodes as a typical 22-show network series like CBS’s The Big Bang Theory. Zicherman’s current show, Divorce, is shooting just eight episodes.
These shows often take just as long to write as they do to shoot, because an entire season’s worth of scripts is written before shooting begins, while network TV usually hops from script to shooting with each episode.
Short-order series now account for almost two-thirds of all TV series produced, according to the guild.
Streaming and cable shows are also not tied to the networks’ strict seasonal schedules, allowing producers to drag out the work.
Exclusivity clauses, which prevent workers from immediately hopping to a new project, then make it almost impossible to squeeze more than one writing job into a year. The result is less money. ‘‘Most mid-level and upperlevel writers are making significantly less than we were three years ago,’’ Zicherman says. ‘‘It’s a boom time in television, and there’s a lot of work out there, but the rules we are working under came from an old system.’’
The disconnect illustrates how rapid changes in an industry, often driven by technology, can cause problems for even well-paid workers – the average TV writer made US$194,478 (NZ$283,000) in 2015, according to the guild.
The TV boom has created a market for niche, often short-run series that catch the attention of viewers who otherwise wouldn’t watch prime time TV on a consistent basis.
‘‘People think Hollywood lives in a bubble that’s unaffected by everything else,’’ veteran TV writer John Eisendrath says. ‘‘But it’s not. We’re seeing the same thing that’s happening in the broader economy.’’
The top of Hollywood’s income pyramid is doing fine, says Dan Stone, an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles, and the industry’s average pay is inflated by massive payouts for superstar writers like Shonda Rhimes of Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy.
‘‘I think this is more about the average TV writer. For those people, they feel like it’s getting more difficult to earn a living.’’
The last writers’ strike occurred a decade ago and lasted roughly 100 days, shutting down a range of TV and movie productions. It was a blow to California’s economy, resulting in 37,700 job losses and US$2.1b in lost output, according to a Milken Institute study.
David Smith, associate professor of economics at Pepperdine Graziadio School of Business and Management, says he thinks a strike can be avoided this time. He points to wealthy studios and the relatively modest demands from the unions.
The big six media companies – featuring familiar names like CBS, Viacom and Disney – are doing very well, recording US$51b in profits last year, the writers guild says. Netflix and Amazon appear to have open chequebooks when it comes to acquiring shows.
The tension comes from REUTERS differences over who has adapted better to changes in TV production and consumption, Smith says.
‘‘The workers have not been as flexible as the industry changes. Studios have taken advantage.’’
The writers’ unions are not asking for direct pay rises, beyond modest changes to script fees. Instead, they want commitments to speed up the production schedules of short-order series to more closely mirror the network pace, and a bigger cut of show residuals.
Going to write for movies isn’t a good option for TV writers. Movie screenwriters have been suffering a tougher time, with fewer Hollywood movies being released each year since 2006, and a greater emphasis on major ‘‘tent pole’’ movies, which leads to fewer scripts being written. Washington Post