The Writers Guild of America strike has been in effect for a week now, bringing about a sudden stop to several projects in early development. As the writing rooms remain empty, many authors and voices in media have commented on the ongoing protests and the potential for significant change that might be brought about. Like many stalled productions, progress on the upcoming Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight has been paused, with its creator George R.R. Martin sharing his personal thoughts in his blog on Monday.
Martin admitted that this was not his first rodeo with supporting worker’s strikes and recalled previous occurrences from decades long past.
I have been through several of these since I first started writing for television and film in 1986. The 1988 strike, the first I was a part of, lasted 22 weeks, the longest in Hollywood history. The 2007-2008 strike, the most recent, went for 100 days. This one may go longer. The issues are more important, and I have never seen the Guild so united as it is now.
Not a Blog, George R.R. Martin
The WGA strike is primarily due to notable concerns by thousands of writers as to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ retaining large shares of residuals, thus cutting down on the income of individual writers. Additional concerns also include the advent of ChatGPT and other AI-based tools acting as replacements for their manual labor rather than as helpful instruments, thrusting them out of the profession. With regard to their plight. George R.R. Martin stated that while he was unable to physically attend the picket lines as he may have once done, the WGA had his full support until the desired results became visible.
How long will the strike last? No idea. Maybe the AMPTP members will come to their senses tomorrow and offer some meaningful concessions, and the whole thing can be wrapped up next week. I would not bet the ranch on that, however.
Not a Blog, George R.R. Martin
As a parting note, Martin reassured fans that the WGA strike had not impacted the progress of his novels and work on the delayed The Winds of Winter continues to be underway.
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