What the Writers Strike Really Is: The First of the Major American A.I. Strikes

As of today, Hollywood writers are on strike. The Writers Guild of America, the nation’s largest creative writers union, walked off the job as of midnight. Laptops shut. Pencils down. Which effectively means Hollywood is shuttered. Again. How long it will last is up in the air. Fifteen years ago, a writers strike lasted three months. The guild’s longest was 22 weeks in 1988. As if the two-year+ pandemic freeze was not painful enough for an industry that employs millions of people in Los Angeles and across the nation, in creative hubs from New York to Atlanta to remote laptops everywhere. When writers strike, there are no scripts, which means producers are limited to whatever projects are currently in their store. It doesn’t make LA a ghost-town, but it stops the flow of the town at its source.

You’ll see it first in late night, possibly talk shows, then shortened TV seasons, less on Netflix, blah, blah, blah. Every report you read in the mainstream press will be about how striking writers are delaying the next season of The Diplomat (such a good show). But don’t miss the point. The outcome matters. Six major consolidated media corporations are doing their damndest to rob the nation’s most talented artists of their livelihoods. You might care. You might not. But here’s why this is major — and why it is…