¡°The details of the new Writers Guild contract are out,¡± writer and comedian Adam Conover tweeted Tuesday night. ¡°We won.¡±
It¡¯s hard to argue with Conover¡¯s two-word conclusion. Guaranteed compensation, success-based residuals, AI limitations, staffing minimums, additional production guarantees, and more of the particulars of the WGA¡¯s deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers were, Conover continued, ¡°essential protections that the companies told us, to our faces, that they would NEVER give us. But because of our solidarity, because they literally cannot make a dollar without us, they bent, then broke, and gave us what we deserve. WE WON.¡±
His points are all accurate. But there is one more hard-fought battle worth mentioning, one that ultimately may have lost the AMPTP the war: the PR battle. Because in the all-important court of public opinion, the studios got absolutely wiped out by the scrappy writers union, and none of their high-priced media consultants could do a thing about it.
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