The Strike That Stopped Hollywood

In the summer and autumn of 2023, Hollywood ground to a near-halt. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike in May, followed by the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) in July. For the first time in decades, both writers and actors were on the picket line simultaneously — and the industry felt it deeply.

Productions were paused, press tours were cancelled, release schedules were reshuffled, and the public conversation about the value of creative labour reached a new level of intensity. Now, with the dust settled, it's worth examining what actually changed — and what it means for the films you'll be watching in the years ahead.

What the Strikes Were Actually About

The disputes went beyond simple pay increases. The core issues were:

  • Residuals in the streaming era: The traditional residuals model — whereby writers and actors earn payments when their work is rebroadcast or distributed — had not been meaningfully updated to reflect the streaming business model. Writers on streaming shows were receiving far less than their broadcast counterparts despite equivalent or greater work.
  • Mini-rooms and condensed seasons: The shift to shorter season orders on streaming had reduced the time writers spend in a room together, which directly impacted earnings and career development for mid-level writers.
  • Artificial intelligence: Both guilds sought protections against studios using AI to generate scripts or replicate actors' likenesses without consent or compensation. This was genuinely new legal and creative territory.

What Was Won

After months of negotiations, both guilds reached agreements with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Key gains included:

  • Improved minimum staffing levels for writers' rooms.
  • Updated streaming residuals formulas tied to programme viewership thresholds.
  • Explicit AI protections, including requirements that studios cannot use AI-generated scripts without negotiation and that actors' digital likenesses cannot be used without individual consent.
  • Increased minimum compensation rates.

The Ripple Effects on Film

The strikes created a production backlog that will take years to fully clear. Films and series that were delayed are now arriving in a compressed release window, creating unusual competition at the box office and on streaming. For audiences, this means an unusually rich — if somewhat chaotic — content environment in 2024 and 2025.

More significantly, the AI provisions established a contractual precedent that will shape how studios can and cannot deploy generative AI tools in production. This is arguably the most consequential long-term outcome of the strike — a legal framework for creative labour in the age of machine learning.

What It Means for Movie Fans

The films you watch are made by writers, actors, directors, crew members, and countless other creative professionals. When the conditions that sustain their work deteriorate, the quality and diversity of storytelling suffers. The 2023 strikes were, at their core, a fight for the long-term health of the storytelling ecosystem — and that matters to anyone who loves cinema.

Watch this space: the conversations begun in 2023 about AI, creative ownership, and fair compensation are far from over.