He Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Film and Television Producers Alliance (AMPTP) did not reach an agreement after several days of negotiations, so the Hollywood scriptwriters a strike will begin from this Tuesday that could paralyze the industry.

“Although our Negotiating Committee began this process with the intention of reaching a fair agreement, the responses from the studies have been totally insufficient given the existential crisis that writers face”, The WGA posted on its Twitter account following the announcement.

The union also announced that the pickets will begin on Tuesday afternoon and made a union appeal to its members.

600 million in increases

The WGA claims approximately $600 million in salary increases and other benefits, such as “residuals”, the compensation that a team member receives every time their product is broadcast on television again and which, according to the union, have been diminished by “streaming” platforms.

The last writers’ strike that the industry went through it was produced in 2007 and lasted for more than a monthwhich meant a loss of 2,100 million dollars and the dismissal of 37,000 professionals.

The decision was made after six weeks of negotiations between the WGA and the AMPTP, which includes major studios such as Disney, Apple, Amazon, Paramount, NBC, Warner Bros. Discovery and Sony.

In a statement collected by local media, the alliance assured that it presented a proposal to the writers’ union that included “generous raises” in the remuneration of the writers, as well as improvements in the “residuals” and that they were willing to improve the offer.

However, they said that due to the magnitude of other WGA requests, such as having a minimum staffing level for television writers’ roomsas well as a guaranteed minimum work of weeks per program, they did not see options for an agreement.

Changes due to streaming

These concerns on the part of the writers respond to the changes that the industry has experienced in production since the advent of “streaming” platforms.

Although there has been an increase in television productions, the conditions are uncertain due to the reduction of episodes of the series at present, few opportunities for new talent and unpaid work on projects that have not yet been approved.

The union accused big Hollywood companies of “further devalue the profession of writing,” due to their “unchangeable” positions during the negotiations.

“They have closed the door on their workforce and have open the door to writing as a totally independent profession. Such an agreement could never be contemplated by this membership,” they stated.

Pauses in programs

Among the most pressing consequences are the almost immediate breaks from daily TV shows, talk shows and other current projects.

In addition, the premieres of series and movies could experience significant delaysand gradually the general production of audiovisual products in the country would come to a standstill.

In addition, a strong economic impact is expected in production centers, such as the cities of Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta.