why the hollywood writers’ strike matters to us

2023-05-06 11:00:00

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MEDIA LETTER. The social movement raises the questions of professions threatened by artificial intelligence and the profit-sharing of authors in the benefits of creations.

Pair Olivier Ubertalli

Actor Rob Lowe and his son, screenwriter John Owen Lowe, came to support the Writers Guild of America strike against Paramount Pictures studios, May 2, 2023.
© RODIN ECKENROTH / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Published on 05/06/2023 at 11:00 a.m.

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Aith Disney, Paramount, Netflix or Amazon Prime Video movies visible from our sofas, Hollywood has never been closer to us. For the first time in fifteen years, the cogs of this dream factory have come to a standstill. Represented by their powerful union, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), American screenwriters have been on strike since May 2. From New York to Los Angeles, they show their dissatisfaction in front of the studios.

One might think that this social movement does not concern France, subject to other rules of the game than the United States. That it contributes above all to the interruption of these very American programs that are the “late night shows”, such as the Jimmy Kimmel Live ! on the ABC channel or The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on NBC, the latter being broadcast in…