ATLANTA — It’s day one of the Writers Guild of America Strike and all scriptwriting has come to a stop.
The halt will impact late-night talk and streaming shows and future films.
“It’s really, really hard for us out here right now,” said Ralph Ochoa, a TV and Film Hair Department Director.
“I was the department head on ‘the Have and Have Nots,’ I department headed ‘Panhandle’,” said Ochoa.
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Ochoa spent most of his time on production sets, that was until the writers’ strike.
“If we don’t have writers, we don’t have a show,” He told Channel 2′s Audrey Washington.
Negotiations, particularly about residuals for writers working for streaming channels, began to fall apart between the Writers’ Guild of America and the studios in March.
The Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers said it was willing to improve on its offer but would not meet all of the union’s demands.
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The two sides failed to reach a new contract.
“The late-night talk shows, nobody is writing tonight,” said Chad Darnell, a writer and actor. “We need fair wages, residuals. But also, we need to address things like AI because with AI we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Ochoa said he’ll continue to watch for any new developments.
“I’m up for TV shows and some films so I’m just waiting,” he said.
Only productions with scripts already set in stone can continue.
Both the WGA and the studios said they remain committed to reaching a deal.
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