Council members joined striking TV and film writers on Thursday in a rally aimed at keeping their profession “a middle class career.”
The rally came as members of the Council, led by Labor Chair Carmen de la Rosa and Speaker Adrienne Adams, announced a resolution calling on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to sit down and negotiate a fair deal with the Writers Guild of America.
The rally took place as the writers’ strike nears its eighth week. Negotiations between writers and media executives have hit a roadblock on how to adapt payment structures to streaming video. Writers say the onset of the streaming age has completely transformed the way their work is commissioned, produced and distributed.
“The periods of employment or gigs, if you will, they’re getting shorter. The pay is getting lower. The gaps in time between gigs are getting longer. Pay is going down. Residuals are going down,” said WGA, East Executive Director Lowell Peterson. “These are problems that are structural in nature.”
City and state government has a role in regulations and subsidies that they pass to support TV and movies production in New York City. The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment controls the infrastructure that dictates permits and shooting schedules for TV and movie sets across the city.
“This is a public good that is supported by the public,” Peterson said.
Supportive councilmembers who spoke at the rally included Gale Brewer, Marjorie Velazquez, Julie Won, Julie Menin, Chi Ossé, Natasha Williams Jennifer Gutierrez among others.
“Your favorite movies, podcasts, TV shows are all written and produced by a workforce of tens of thousands of creators who then bring revenue to our city. We are lucky to have you. And we must ensure that you can remain here,” said de la Rosa.
In addition to the problems associated with pay rates for writers the rally also addressed the looming question of the role and rules around the using artificial generative intelligence in the writing process. The union is hoping to negotiate provisions that protect its members economic rights around this new technology.
“Whatever AI is, you can beat it in the sense that you know how to write better than AI,” said Brewer.
Menin, former commissioner of media and entertainment for the city, said that the 185,000 jobs in media and entertainment in the city (as of 2019) represent a larger pool of employment than the financial sector.
Other council members spoke to the economic impact of the TV and movie industry on the importance of storytelling.
“The cultural capital of the world is this city. I know I’m a little biased in saying that. And in order for us to uphold that mantle, we need to support our storytellers. We need to support our writers. We need to give them the contract that they deserve,” said Ossé.
