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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and we're going to stay on the media beat for the last segment of the show today and invite your calls if you're participating in the Writers Guild of America strike at 212-433-WNYC. Writers if you're not working and listening to the show, 212-433-9692.

By way of background, for people who haven't been following this closely, the Writers Guild of America representing 11,500 members began their strike yesterday after six weeks of negotiations with studios and streaming platforms. A satisfactory agreement failed to materialize. What led up to this? Here's a hint from the union's strike announcement "The company's behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing." Listeners, we want to know what this gig economy inside a union workforce actually looks like as you are experiencing it.

I'm guessing that we have some striking writers in the listening audience right now because a lot of the writers are in New York, a lot of the writers are in LA, the Hollywood area. This keeps getting reported on as a Hollywood writer strike. A lot of those writers are here in New York. We know that the live talk shows went dark and went into reruns of late-night TV talk shows as of yesterday when the strike started because the writers aren't working.

Some of you are here and if you are here, we invite you to call in and I don't know, I guess you can call this a picket line of the air if you want to for the moment or just a soapbox. 212-433-WNYC. What is it about working as a writer in the current state of the TV and film industry that necessitated a strike in your opinion?

Management can call in too if you're listening at any of the networks or the streaming platforms and tell people your side of this labor dispute. 212-433-WNYC. Writers have hit the picket lines on both sides of the country in front of film and television studios like Disney, Paramount, CBS, Streaming Company offices as well, Netflix, Amazon, Peacock. Listeners, are you on or headed to the picket line at maybe Silver Cup in Long Island City, Netflix in the Flatiron, or somewhere else? Tell us where you're headed and how you've seen the industry change since the dawn of streaming. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

We'll say, of course, that it's not just writers who are affected by this strike. Everyone on set from producers to showrunners. Even actors and hair and makeup artists will likely feel the absence of the writing staff. If you work in film and television but you're not a writer, what's going on at your workplace now that writers are on strike. Has your project been put on hold? Studio executives, as I say, you're welcome to call in too and give your side of the negotiations. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or tweet @BrianLehrer and we'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC as we're ready to take your calls from anyone connected in any way to the writers' strike which is now in day two. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

Joining us now as your calls come in to explain why writers are on strike and how it'll affect current TV shows and movies in production is Anousha Sakoui, entertainment industry reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Anousha welcome to WNYC. Thanks for coming on early your time. Hello from New York.

Anousha Sakoui: Hello New York.

Brian Lehrer: Let me jump right into one of the issues here which is the rise of streaming platforms and their impact on writers' pay and working conditions. Is it a lower paying gig to work for, let's say, a Netflix show or an HBO Max show than it is to write for a CBS or an NBC or an ABC or a Fox show?

Anousha Sakoui: In short, yes, it can be. Basically, the way that that would play out is one of the big income streams for writers is not just what they might get paid weekly or per episode but also in terms of residuals which are a form of royalty that they get every time their show is replayed. A lot of writers complain that these royalties, that these residuals that get them through the lean times between jobs are much less than when they are working for or working on network shows.

Also, in terms of streaming, one of the tendencies of streaming platforms over the recent years has been to order shorter and shorter seasons. Whilst you might have worked as a writer for a broadcast network for 22 episodes over a period of about 10 months, now something like Bridgerton only had eight episodes on Netflix in its first season. That could be the WJ saying some writers are working as little as 14 weeks. When you're getting paid weekly, you then have to try and stretch that money over a much longer period of time or try and get multiple gigs, which can be challenging.

Brian Lehrer: How do the studios respond to that grievance?

Anousha Sakoui: They haven't really. If you look at what the WGA has put out in terms of statements that the AMPTP, which represents studios, has said that they want to reach a fair deal. They say a big sticking point is the issue of what they call mandatory staffing and the length of employment. What the WGA has said, the Writers Guild of America, they put out a document, quite a lengthy granular document about what their proposals were and what the studios responded.

Amongst those they put for television, they wanted a minimum number of writers employed, and they wanted them to be employed for a certain amount of time, at least 10 weeks to maybe a year, and between 6 and 12 writers. It varied depending on the kind of show. The studios just rejected that and did not counter it, according to the WGA. The AMPTP hasn't really said what it's negotiating position was. They seem very far apart on what seems to be a core part of the WGA asks.

Brian Lehrer: Let's take a phone call. Benjamin in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi Benjamin.

Benjamin: Hi Brian. How are you? Great to be here. I just wanted to share. I was at the picket yesterday. I'm a screenwriter. I'm not a member of the Guild yet, but I just started taking what are called general meetings in the last six months which means that right now the Guild, they're not just striking for their contract, but that's the contract for all future writers that may wind up working with these producers and with these studios. This is a super important issue that affects not just current professional screenwriters, but anybody that's potentially moving into that industry in coming years. I'll take myself off after this. Thanks.

Brian Lehrer: Benjamin I'm curious if you think that there's a particular aspect of what they're striking to achieve that's most important to you as somebody who's starting out in screenwriting?

Benjamin: Yes. I think one of the big things here is this question around AI. I think that's a really important thing because there's a version of this where you suddenly have studio executives generating stuff with AI and then asking people to come in and fix it. It takes the creativity out of it, but also that's just another way to undercut paying writers.

Brian Lehrer: Benjamin, thank you very much.

You want to talk about AI? Anousha is there a studio's position on this? Look, if we have a machine that can generate the beginning of a script, we're going to use it. Don't tell us we can't use it. Is it like that?

Anousha Sakoui: Yes. I'm going to try and bring up what they specifically said according to the WGA because they haven't specifically commented, the AMPTP, that is. Like you said, a lot of writers are concerned about how AI might take their jobs. The WGA had proposed wanting to regulate AI, but that it can't be used as source material for example for what they would call covered work which is part of their contract. They said that the studios rejected their proposals and countered with the offer of an annual meeting to discuss advancement in technology. Now, I saw a lot of reaction from writers to that. I spoke to some on the picket lines here in Los Angeles outside Netflix, actually. Some of them found that a bit of a slap in the face because that is not something, necessarily, that they believe will cost the studios anything. It's not like pay or residual increases. It's really just rules.

From the studio's perspective, they may want to not hamstring themselves in what could be a very important technology. If we look back at 2007, 2008, the last writers' strike, there, writers were trying to get ahead of nascent technology streaming. No one could have known then- maybe no one could have known I'm saying who would've known that today streaming would be so dominant? Then, Hulu didn't exist and Netflix was still doing DVDs by mail. There's an interesting parallel to try and get ahead of technology.

Brian Lehrer: Jenny in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jenny.

Jenny: Hi. Thanks for taking my call. I'm not working right now. Luckily, the people that employ me are giving me straight aid, which is minimum for the days that I'm not working for the next two weeks. Ultimately, I'm going to have to file for unemployment if the strike continues.

Brian Lehrer: Local 52, is that part of the Writer's Guild, or are you in a different union that's being affected by the strike?

Jenny: I'm in a different union. Local 52 represents the sound department, the electric department, grip department, props department, video assist, medics. I feel like I'm missing one, shot craft which is carpenters, basically. They represent a lot of the crew that work on the film.

Brian Lehrer: Do you have similar issues what the Writers Guild is calling a gig economy being developed with inside a union system?

Jenny: Oh, yes. Every year we get frustrated that we feel like we're losing more things. The way things are negotiated are always you're like, "Why are we negotiating and we're getting up?" There was something called Golden Hour, which is after 16 hours, you're paid triples your rate, and that got left, things like that.

Brian Lehrer: That's if you work a 15-hour day?

Jenny: 16-hour day.

Brian Lehrer: That's a long day. Jenny, thank you very much. We have a number of Local 52 people calling in, so let me take one more. Tess, in the Bronx, you're on WNYC. Hi Tess.

Tess: Hi Brian. Longtime listener, first-time caller. I am a member of Local 52. I do props on set. I'm currently on a TV show filming in the Bronx. From our perspective, we're all just super confused.

There's a lack of guidance about what we do if the writers on our job go on strike. It seems like we do have a no-strike clause in our contracts, which means that even if another union is striking, we cannot stand in solidarity with them. There's a general fear about what happens to our profession, what we're going to do if our jobs go dark.

Brian Lehrer: Dark for how long is the question, right? For how long the strike last?

Tess: Yes. There's a history of writers' strikes that have stopped people from working for months. There's no guidance and we're just waiting to see what happens.

Brian Lehrer: Tess, thank you for your call. Unfortunately, this is why a number of Local 52 people are calling in, Anousha. A lot of uncertainty out there, and we're not going to have time to take other calls who are saying the same thing, but here's part of the ripple effect of this. Is there any indication of how long this strike might last? I see you reported that the vote to authorize the strike was of a historic margin, 98% vote to authorize among the writers.

Anousha Sakoui: Right. That shows you obviously the strength, the feeling amongst the membership. I haven't really heard, at this point, any dissent. Clearly, 2% voted against it, and I'm sure all of them-- Well, I shouldn't be so general, but I've seen a lot of writers say that no one wants to strike. I think clearly a lot of them know that they feel like they have to do it.

Now, the question is-- I did ask Ellen Stutzman, chief negotiator, yesterday on the picket line outside Netflix, how long this might go on, or how long they're willing to strike for, and she said until they get a fair deal. I think no one knows how long it could go. History shows us that if you look at '07-'08, it was 100 days. The longest strike was 153 days in 1988.

These are complex issues.

We've got negotiations with the Director's Guild and SAG-AFTRA which represents performers coming up over the next few weeks. That's going to also complicate the timeline. The people I'm speaking to, they say it could be months. There's no definitive answer, but the pain will be widely felt if it goes on a long time.

Brian Lehrer: Even in live TV. We saw the late-night shows from Stephen Colbert to both of the Jimmy's went black as of last night, so that could go on too for 150 days or something like that.

Anousha Sakoui: Right, unless there's some compromise arrangement made, but I don't think so. I think that the WGA wants there to be a complete shutdown of the pipeline for content to make sure it's as short a strike as possible by shutting everything down as widely as possible, so that they put out a very comprehensive set of strike rules which basically limit writers from doing anything. Also, not just writers in the guild, but I think one of your callers was but wasn't actually a member of the Writer's Guild but people who want to get in the future, they're being warned don't cross the picket line because you won't be able to join in the future if you do.

Brian Lehrer: Right. Absolutely. A lot of people in LA, a lot of people in New York being affected by this. We thank Anousha Sakoui, entertainment industry reporter for The Los Angeles Times. Thank you very much.

Anousha Sakoui: My pleasure. Thank you for having me on.

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Stay tuned for Alison.

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