S6 Ep. 33: The Stakes of the Writers’ Strike: Benjamin Percy on the WGA Walkout, Streaming, and the Survival of Screenwriting

fiction/non/fiction

Novelist, screenwriter, and Writers Guild of America member Benjamin Percy joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the Hollywood writers’ strike, which began May 2. Percy talks about several WGA contract proposals tied to streaming services’ rise in popularity, and reflects on how streaming has upended the traditional 22-episode television season, causing writers to scramble for work every 10 weeks. He explains how writers end up doing unpaid labor before shows are greenlit and highlights how a lack of transparency regarding streaming viewership numbers leads to writers being underpaid. He also analyzes why the WGA wants to limit the use of artificial intelligence on its projects. Finally, he talks about his own experiences writing screenplays, including his recent movie Summering. The group listens to the trailer and Percy recalls the genesis of the film, as well as how being on a set changed his understanding of the economics of movies.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Benjamin Percy

• Summering Trailer #1 (2022) | Movieclips Trailers
• The Sky Vault
• Red Moon
• The Wilding
• The Ninth Metal
• The Unfamiliar Garden
• Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction

Others:

• WGA proposal
• "You're Not Making Jet Engines, You're Making Art" | The Distraction: A Defector Podcast
• "2023 Writers Guild of America Strike: What You Need to Know" - The New York Times
• Writers Guild of America West: Mini-Rooms Are Writers’ Rooms. Period.
• “These are the TV shows and films affected by the Hollywood writers' strike so far,” by Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz
• "Writers strike: What TV shows are being affected" by Brahmjot Kaur, NBC
• "WGA strike 2023: Hollywood’s writers walked off the job. What happens now?" - Vox
• "Conan lauded for his support of writers in old video amid new writers strike: 'Man is a legend,'" by Aditi Bora
• "The last writers’ strike, when streaming was new and Conan grew a beard" - By Sonia Rao and Michael Cavna, The Washington Post
• Especially Heinous: 272 Views of Law & Order SVU | The American Reader by Carmen Maria Machado
• Story by Robert McKee
• Save the Cat by Blake Snyder
• Screenplay by Syd Field
• Near Dark, directed by Kathryn Bigelow
• Chinatown
• William Goldman
• The Princess Bride
• All the President’s Men
• Quentin Tarantino
• Drew’s Script-O-Rama
• Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6 Episode 17: Chatbot vs. Writer: Vauhini Vara on the Perils and Possibilities of Artificial Intelligence
• Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 2 Episode 11: Brit Bennett and Emily Halpern on Screenwriting’s Tips for Fiction
• Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 11: What’s It Really Like to Have Your Book Made Into a Movie?

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