Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, May 1st, 2023

Some thoughts about a WGA strike...and mini-rooms.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, May 1st, 2023.

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT A WGA STRIKE
With more than 50,000 subscribers reading this every day, it can be a bit challenging navigating the varied backgrounds of the readers. There are a large number of industry people who subscribe, ranging from network and streaming executives to every level of PR, communications, marketing, and more. As well as a lot of showrunners, writers, producers, and actors. But there are also just as many civilians. People who love television and maybe follow the business pretty closely. But at the end of the day, these are also people whose understanding of the complicated nuances of the business can be limited. So I continually struggle with finding a happy medium between the two audiences.

Assuming there is no miraculous surprise, the members of the Writers Guild are going out on strike tonight at midnight. It sounds as if official picket lines might not pop up until Wednesday, but after talking to a number of people on both sides, my sense is that if the strike does happen, it's likely to be an extended one.

Several huge issues need to be resolved, but the core problem is a combination of inadequate pay and the issues revolving around so-called mini-rooms. The mini-rooms part of this is pretty complicated with a lot of nuances. So I'm going to try and walk you through the highlights and my apologies in advance to those of you in the industry who are already familiar with a lot of this.

You'll hear a lot of writers complaining about the changes in the industry and how years ago a writer would get hired onto a broadcast TV series and if it was successful, everyone made money.

Let's go back 30 years and look at the state of the industry in 1993. Cable television was still in its infancy and for the most part, if you sold a scripted television show, it was to one of the four broadcast networks. They ordered a lot of pilots and greenlit a crazy number of shows. Throughout the 1993-1994 season, more than 60 new shows premiered, and about a dozen lasted into season two. But if the show survived, it cranked out a 22-24 episode season and everyone made money. Well, almost everyone.

For writers, it was a golden era. There was a full-sized writer's room, with support staff that included script coordinators, writer's assistants, and more (depending on the show). Getting your name on one or two of the season's scripts meant a steady stream of residual payments in the future as well as a healthy payment for the initial script. And if the show was successful enough to produce enough episodes to be syndicated, well then the money really began to flow. There are a lot of really nice homes in Southern California owned by writers who worked steadily through that period but probably are also people you have never heard of.

The other advantage of that setup for writers is that the system allowed writers to work their way up the ladder, gaining experience as they worked. Because the season had longer seasons, writers with less experience had the opportunity to sell a script. And because the writing was going on throughout the longer season, the writer whose name was on the script was often able to spend time on the set. Which allowed them to learn the business and gain the knowledge they'd need for the next step up the career ladder.

Going into syndication was also great news for the studio that produced the series. While the network paid the studio a fee for the episode, that fee often didn't cover the cost of production. So the studio ended up in the red on all of those shows that were canceled quickly or didn't produce enough episodes to go into syndication. But it was worth it for the studio, because when a show did move into syndication, it was a bit like printing money. A successful syndication run made enough to cover all of those losses and more. And if you were the creator of the show or a showrunner? Well, in a lot of cases, one hit show would mean you'd never have to work again.

But that magic scenario has completely changed over the past thirty years - for a variety of reasons. Cable television expanded into scripted programming and writers were generally paid less when working on a cable show. The once lucrative market for original syndicated scripted programming disappeared as formerly independent TV stations joined The WB or UPN (later The CW), Ion, or several other collections of affiliates that no longer exist (shout out to Pax). And as the audience moved increasingly to cable and later to streaming, the number of scripted originals on the broadcast networks dropped. Some shows ended up with 13 or even 10 episode orders and that meant less money for writers and fewer opportunities to move up.

But the biggest disruption to that business model was the rise of streaming services and their approach to producing a show.

While mini-rooms were first tried out on smaller cable networks such as AMC, the idea became the preferred method of production in the streaming industry. Rather than ordering pilots, the streamers would find an idea they believed had promise and put together a mini-room of writers. In some cases, that means the show's creator and a handful of other writers. In some cases, it's a showrunner and a room of 3 to 5 writers. They write a number of scripts - often the entire season - and the streamer then decides whether or not to greenlight the show in large part on what happens in that mini-room. If they order the show, there's generally some rewriting, but it's not uncommon for the writer's work to be done before the show begins filming.

That production style has many consequences. The default streaming season now runs from 6-10 episodes, with 6-8 being the norm. And the pay in a mini-room is structured in a way that means all writers are paid the same no matter their level of experience. And often that pay is not much more than the guild minimum. That encourages showrunners to hire the most experienced writers they can get because the small room size doesn't support someone learning on the job. Which means many fewer jobs for lower-level writers. And many lower-level writers find themselves stuck at the lower level because there is no space for them to grow.

But the situation isn't any better for more experienced writers. The timing of the writing and production schedule means that writers are losing out on the opportunity to get set experience because they are long gone before the show ramps up into production. That can even be the case with showrunners, which has led to the approach Marvel takes on its Disney+ originals. The director of the series is now essentially the showrunner instead of there being a writing showrunner. Which not only means less money for writers, but fewer opportunities to learn.

And then there are the residuals. Or to be clear, the lack of meaningful residuals. The typical streaming deal for an original show or movie buys out a lot of the rights ahead of production. People make a bit more upfront, but their back-end payments are so small as to be nearly pointless. And that doesn't change whether the show is a massive hit or a failure. That lack of ongoing healthy residuals, along with shorter seasons and smaller writers rooms means that the average pay for a working writer is shrinking. But that is accompanied by fewer career opportunities and an ongoing sense that financial doom is just one mini-room away. The typical streaming deal for an original show or movie buys out the residuals ahead of production. People make a bit more upfront, but their back-end payments are gone. Or so small as to be pointless. And that doesn't change whether the show is a massive hit or a failure. That lack of ongoing healthy residuals, along with shorter seasons and smaller writers rooms means that the average pay for a working writer is shrinking. But that is accompanied by fewer career opportunities and an ongoing sense that financial doom is just one less mini-room away.

This just touches on some of the issues and I haven't even gotten into things like "span." But as you can see, there is a lot for both sides to figure out and it's difficult for me to see how this will play out. I've spoken with streaming executives frequently about these issues over the past few months and while they agree in theory that writers have a point, they don't seem inclined to change their business approach. They believe short seasons and mini-rooms are the standard now and it will take some massive leverage to change that attitude.

I think raising the guild minimums is a likely starting point and perhaps agreeing on some mandatory minimum size for rooms. Although that number is likely to be a lot smaller than the WGA membership would prefer.

This is going to be a scary ride for the industry. It feels as if we're at a tipping point. But what's unclear is the direction of the tipping.

ODDS AND SODS
* Fox has renewed 9-1-1 Lone Star for a fifth season. But 9-1-1 is moving to ABC for its seventh season. The most amazing thing about that move to me is that the current budget for 9-1-1 is more than $9 million per episode.

* Here is a link to the official WGA strike rules, in case you're interested.

WHAT'S NEW FOR MONDAY:
America Decides Series Premiere (CBSN)
A Small Light (NatGeo)
Casa Grande (Freevee)
Undercover Underage Season Two Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
White House Plumbers (HBO Max)

Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.

SEE YOU TUESDAY!

If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.