Thread by @OKBJGM

why is the #wga on strike? because the producers refuse to give writers a livable basic standard of job security, compensation, and career mobility: tv writing used to be a hard and difficult road to a very desirable destination...

the reward for all of the rejection and job insecurity was to create and run your own show: i got into this business because it was worth putting up with all the rejection, anxiety, and financial and career insecurity to create art on this level...

the producers have basically taken what was once a robust model for writer compensation and, by exploiting the disruption caused by streaming and online content made it nigh impossible for most writers to work consistently enough to earn a living...

they have made it impossible for writers to gain the necessary experience to rise in the ranks, to become producers themselves and to be able to create the kinds of shows that made TV great to begin with...

they also refuse to part with less than 3% of their profits - profits that WOULD NOT EXIST WITHOUT WRITERS - while claiming that the disruption they caused and have been leveraging to rob every artist in town of their livelihood has left them financially insecure.

now let's talk about the corporations and their financial insecurity... let's use the salaries of their executives as a metric for their alleged financial struggle...

the CEO of endeavor content made 308 million dollars last year alone.

the ceo of discovery/warner bros made 246 million.

the ceo of disney made 50 million...

the fired ceo of disney made it out with 32 million...

rupert murdoch made 31 million (for his role at fox news alone)...

reed hastings of netflix made 40 million with a 50 million dollar bonus...

so did ted sarandos...

and the ceo of comcast made 30 million...

THAT IS OVER $773,000,000 FOR THE HEAD HONCHOS ALONE.

meanwhile, i can name a dozen writers off the top of my head - mid level producer writers with multiple credits who, before a strike was called, were doing survival jobs in order to make ends meet.

this is insanity, pure and simple - and the spin will be that we writers are spoiled, greedy, snowflaky fat cats who are disrupting your quality of life and entertainment because we're just not rich enough.

the simple truth of it is that corporations have no sense of justice, morality, or fairness beyond INCREASING WEALTH FOR THEIR SHAREHOLDERS.

think about it - they would rather shut down the entire business for an indefinite period of time, have their own workforce lose their livelihoods, and in many cases, life savings, careers, and homes than part with less than 3% of their profits.

let me say that a third time - 3% of the profits from a business that in a single year pays SIX of its employees more than 773,000,000!

so don't believe the hype about writers wanting too much - job security, fair pay, and a way of life that is commensurate with the fact that WE CREATE THE PRODUCT THAT GENERATES THOSE PROFITS are not too much to ask for.

we deserve better - as do the consumers, as does anyone who works for a living, make no mistake, what they are doing to us they are doing to all organized labor down the line.

support the #wga.